A new cohort of ultra-Orthodox soldiers joins the military today.
The troops are joining units designated for Haredi soldiers, including the Hasmonean Brigade, the Netzah Yehuda Battalion in the Kfir Brigade, and the Hetz Company in the Paratroopers Brigade’s 202nd Battalion.
The military says that the commander of the Hasmonean Brigade, Col. Shemer Raviv, met with new recruits at an induction center. The brigade’s Yonatan Battalion is currently stationed in southern Lebanon.
Some 80,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged between 18 and 24 are currently believed to be eligible for military service, but have not enlisted. The IDF has said it urgently needs 12,000 recruits — mostly combat troops — due to the strain on standing and reserve forces caused by the war against Hamas in Gaza and other military challenges.
For the past two years, the Haredi leadership has pushed for a law keeping its constituency out of the IDF, after the High Court ruled that decades-long blanket exemptions from army duty traditionally afforded to full-time Haredi yeshiva students were illegal.
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Sunday, May 3, 2026
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