MASS EXODUS AT THE IDF!

Right, so for as much as Benjamin Netanyahu and the insane government he has surrounded himself with wish to go back into Gaza, they’ve got a big fat problem in that far too many in the military don’t want to go. On top of that, attempts at recruiting new reservists and forcing the draft on previously exempt citizens isn’t going their way either, oh dear, how sad, never mind.
The fact is the Israeli Defence Force, the IDF is facing an unprecedented crisis in recruitment and manpower, worse now over and above the problems they were facing when I previously reported on this issue last year. The manpower shortage is not just a logistical problem for the IDF; it is a reflection of deeper societal and ethical divisions that have opened up within Israel. For a nation that has long relied on national service and the alleged military prowess and morality of their armed forces, as much as that has been exposed as little more than a sick joke, so it is that the strength of that army is withering along with support for Israel globally. Some might call this karma but I couldn’t possibly comment.
What it exposes though are the contradictions of a state that claims constant victimhood that actually seeks to perpetuate violence against occupied people now struggling to find enough soldiers willing to carry out its criminal orders and for as much as craven and depraved governments around the world can excuse the continued supply of arms to Israel, they aren’t much good without people to actually use them and it's a mess entirely of Netanyahu’s making.
Right, so the IDF’s manpower crisis is actually a more complex picture than just people not showing up to active duty, there is a bit more to it, but its no less than what Netanyahu and his genocidal government deserve, when for some soldiers, it’s all too much. Sure, the media does like to highlight those conscienceless and depraved who appear to revel in the atrocity they are committing, but that isn’t all of them and this recruitment crisis does carry a significant aspect of enough is enough for many. Reservists refusing to return to duty, there has been a failure to recruit from the ultra-Orthodox Haredi community who have historically always been exempt from serving, and a broader societal reluctance to serve in what many see as an unjust and endless conflict with no clear aim in sight and no real plan for what comes after, especially if handing it over to Donald Trump is seen as their reason to be fighting. According to reports, even as the Netanyahu government prepares to once again escalate military operations in Gaza, with all new war plans having been drawn up by the new Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, thousands of reservists are refusing to report for duty. This refusal is tantamount to going on strike, with soldiers citing moral, psychological, and practical reasons for their decision. An excerpt from Israeli outlet Haaretz nailing the problem:
‘Conversations with reservists – mostly off-the-record, since most of them are still in and out of active duty – military analysts and mental health professionals turn up a clear, painful, tough list of consequences to fighting Israel's longest war, which make it harder and harder for reservists to go back.
The reasons are remarkably consistent. They include a rotating litany including family, finances, exhaustion and fear – the natural outcome of war, especially a long war, anywhere. And then there are problems related specifically to this war, in this country, in this situation.
Family pressures tend to come up first in all conversations. One high-ranking officer, a lieutenant colonel who has served as a reservist on and off during the war, said the spouses are often unable to bear another round of duty. Of the 295,000 reservists the IDF says have been called up during the war, 118,000 are parents (115,000 are fathers). "I've heard about wives who stood up and said to their husbands, 'You're not going back'" – particularly if they have aged out of mandatory reserve service but volunteer anyway. "The wives sometimes say, 'You don't have to go, so don't.'
Spouses left holding down all the household and childcare, as well as their jobs, often face additional financial pressure due to their missing spouse. Reservists get a salary, but those who are self-employed still take a major hit. According to a report published last month, 75,000 businesses closed since the start of the war, 59,000 of them in 2024 – the highest number since the COVID-19 pandemic.’
For all of the moral and legal implications the genocide holds for Israel and those following orders, the seemingly never-ending cycle of committing atrocities in Gaza to keep Netanyahu in his job, is destroying the livelihoods of those fighting.
The refusal of reservists to return to active duty is particularly significant because the IDF relies heavily on its reserve forces for large-scale operations. Reservists make up a substantial portion of the IDF’s combat units, and their increasing absence undermines the army’s ability to conduct sustained military campaigns as is being demanded of them. This crisis is compounded by the fact that the IDF is struggling to recruit new soldiers, particularly from the Haredi community, which has historically been exempt from military service. Despite repeated attempts to draft Haredi youths, many are ignoring the draft notices, leading to the issuance of hundreds of arrest warrants, but many would rather go to jail than fight. Israel has reportedly now issued some 720 arrest warrants for ultra-Orthodox youths who have refused to comply with draft orders, demanding they enlist and take their part in committing further atrocity, with no real aim or end in sight.
The manpower crisis comes at a time when the Netanyahu government is pushing for a renewed military offensive in Gaza, driven by hardline ministers who are clearly out of step with many in their own armed forces. These ministers and other political figures, the likes of Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich as the most well known of the usual suspects, are cheerleading such demands of the IDF. However, their ambitions are increasingly disconnected from reality, as the IDF’s recruitment crisis makes it clear that Israel lacks the manpower to carry on in Gaza as it has been.
The government’s response to this crisis has been to double down. One thing they have done is increase the mandatory national service duration and reinstating retired reservists. It has been reported now that the government has raised mandatory IDF service from 32 months to 36 months and additionally, they have recalled 15,000 previously released reservists to active duty, in a desperate attempt to bolster its ranks quickly. These measures, however, are unlikely to solve the underlying problem as another sign of Israeli desperation is that the IDF is also attempting to recruit undocumented teens now in exchange for citizenship.
One of the most telling signs of the IDF’s manpower crisis though has been their announcement of a new reserve division of five brigades, but their complete inability to actually staff it.
If you wanted an example of how thinly the IDF is stretched and how clueless about that IDF decision makers and ministers are, then this is it. The inability to staff a new division raises serious questions not only about the IDF’s ability to function effectively in future conflicts, particularly in Gaza, where it faces a determined and resilient resistance but the general competence of those at the top.
On top of all of this, many soldiers and reservists have also spoken out about the trauma they experienced during previous operations, describing scenes of indiscriminate violence and destruction and while it is very difficult to show sympathy to that given what the IDF has been doing, nevertheless the toll war takes, PTSD and other mental and physical health impacts that it can have are playing a part in this story and are further crimes that ought to be added to Netanyahu’s rap sheet.
The IDF’s manpower crisis has broader implications for Israel’s military and political future. It exposes the limits of a strategy based on brute force and occupation and genocide, highlighting the need for a more sustainable and just approach between Israel and Palestine, but with leaders demanding more war in the face of dropping army numbers, there’s little hope of reason with a government such as this.
Moreover, the crisis undermines the IDF’s image as the invincible force they love to portray themselves as, despite the many and varied defeats they have suffered at the hands of others proving they blatantly are not invincible at all, nor particularly well trained either, both domestically and internationally. The tide is turning against Israel whether Netanyahu cares to admit it or not and that is happening from within Israel as well as outside of it and they can kick and scream about hat all they like, but no amount of propaganda in the world will make a difference when your own people start to say no.
Without enough soldiers or reservists it is hard to see how Israel will manage to continue effectively in Gaza, not that anyone wants to see them succeed in that unless you happen to be a genocidal maniac, but that hasn’t stopped Netanyahu’s government forming an all new administration to manage the migration of all Palestinians out of Gaza – a literal ethnic cleansing department of government. Check out all the details of that story in this video recommendation here as your suggested next watch. Please do also hit like share and subscribe to the channel if you haven’t done so already so as to ensure you don’t miss out on all new daily content and help support the channel at the same time, not least of which in hitting that 100,000 subscriber target which I am so close to reaching right now and I will therefore hopefully catch you on the next vid. Cheers folks.