JERUSALEM

A warning by Israeli Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir about a potential army “collapse” due to troop shortages has triggered a wave of political reactions in Israel, with opposition figures backing the assessment and allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu questioning its motives.

Israel’s military is currently engaged in conflicts in Iran and Lebanon while continuing strikes in Gaza. The army has also deployed additional forces to the occupied West Bank amid rising violence by Israeli occupiers, which necessitates sending more soldiers there, while ultra-Orthodox Jews (Haredi) refuse military service.

While the army has been using its aircraft to attack Iran since Feb. 28, it announced the deployment of four military divisions to southern Lebanon and is deploying large forces in the West Bank, in addition to the forces present in Gaza.

“More than 100,000 reservists are deployed across all fronts, but the army still needs around 15,000 additional troops, including 7,000 to 8,000 combat soldiers,” military spokesperson Effie Defrin told a press briefing Thursday.

A day earlier, Zamir warned in a closed meeting of the Security Cabinet that the army could face “collapse” if the manpower shortage is not addressed, citing expanding missions in southern Lebanon and continued control over roughly half of Gaza.

He explained that the scope of the tasks is “constantly increasing,” with the expansion of military operations in southern Lebanon, and the continued control of about half of Gaza.

“But the number of soldiers is decreasing, especially after the cancellation of the extension of service for regular soldiers, which exacerbates the crisis,” he added.

A Professional warning

Amir Yissscharoff, an analyst at Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, told Anadolu that Zamir's warning was “professional, even as pro-government factions tried to cast it as political.”

Zamir spoke after the government legalized dozens of settlement outposts in the West Bank and as violence by Israeli occupiers escalated, alongside multiple security threats from Iran, Lebanon and Gaza, Yissscharoff said.

“Zamir sounded the alarm about a crisis, and his message was directed primarily at the Israeli domestic audience — he spoke before Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz and other political and military officials,” he said, adding that the message was clear: “We face a problem, and given the military's expanding missions, everyone must be drafted — including the ultra-Orthodox.”

Attacking Zamir and labeling his remarks as political “misses the point,” Yissscharoff said. “He is addressing a professional problem. Zamir is not the problem; Netanyahu is.”

Haredi draft

Zamir's remarks came as Netanyahu continued to stall on a military draft bill.

The opposition, along with factions within the nationalist right, argues that everyone — including the ultra-Orthodox — must serve, while the religious parties Shas and United Torah Judaism are pushing for legislation that would formally exempt seminary students from military service.

Opposition parties accuse Netanyahu of shielding the religious parties to preserve his governing coalition, dubbing the proposed measure the “draft evasion law.”

Israel's Supreme Court ruled in June 2024 that Haredi must be drafted and ordered a halt to state funding for religious institutions whose students refuse to serve.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews make up roughly 13% of Israel's population of approximately 9.7 million. They do not serve in the military, citing religious devotion to Torah study.

While Israeli law requires all citizens over 18 to serve, the Haredi exemption has fueled controversy for decades — a debate that has grown sharper amid Israel's multiple wars and mounting military casualties, with secular parties demanding the ultra-Orthodox share what they call the “burden of war.”

The current Knesset's term expires in October, when general elections are expected unless early elections are called. The Knesset passed the 2026 state budget Sunday, allowing the government to avert early elections — a result attributed largely to Netanyahu securing Haredi party support, even without passing legislation cementing their draft exemption.

Yissscharoff stressed that Netanyahu needs the religious parties, and it is in their interest for the government to remain in power.

Security catastrophe

Opposition leader Yair Lapid sought to capitalize on Zamir's remarks ahead of the expected elections.

“I want to warn Israeli citizens that we are facing a security catastrophe,” Lapid wrote Thursday on the US social media company X.

“Over 13 years, I served on Israel's most important security councils and committees — as prime minister, foreign minister, finance minister and a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee,” he said. “Throughout all those years, I cannot recall a warning as severe as the one issued by the chief of staff.”

According to Lapid, the army chief told the Security Cabinet he no longer has the means to continue mobilizing reservists, with some soldiers now on their sixth and seventh rotations since October 2023.

“They are completely exhausted,” Lapid said, adding that Zamir also informed the Cabinet that regular forces are in a state of total collapse and that the military does not have enough troops to carry out its missions.

“The government's continued encouragement of ultra-Orthodox draft evasion constitutes a security threat,” he said, adding that Zamir presented a series of threats, “most of which cannot be mentioned on camera, but the bottom line is: the government is sending the army into a multi-front war with no strategy, no resources and too few soldiers.

“The government will not be able to claim this time that it didn't know. This is their appointed chief of staff, and they will not be able to politicize him or blame him. From now on, Netanyahu cannot escape responsibility,” Lapid said, calling on the government to immediately cut funding to draft evaders and deploy military police against those who flee service.

He also called on the government to “combat Jewish terrorism by all means” and strip authority from National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir “who publicly supports Jewish terrorists.”

A cry for help

Yair Golan, former deputy chief of staff and leader of the opposition Democrats party, said Zamir's remarks are “not merely a warning — they are a massive black flag waving over the government's policy.”

“When the highest military official tells the Cabinet during wartime that the army is struggling to fulfill its missions because of government policy, that is not a situation assessment — it is a cry for help,” he wrote on X.

“A government that continues this policy is one that has abandoned security. It is a dangerous government that promotes Jewish terrorism, draft evasion, and combines anti-Zionism with antisemitism,” he said.

“Despite all the warnings, the government continues to establish more outposts, supports and arms rioters (occupiers), and the result is direct damage to the army's ability to carry out its real missions. Whoever continues this policy in wartime bears direct responsibility for harming state security,” Golan added.

Former Defense Minister and Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman said on X that Zamir warned draft evasion “is harming Israel's security.”

“The government, as usual, is ignoring warnings before disaster strikes. The army is facing the worst manpower shortage in its history, and everyone must be drafted,” Lieberman added.

Israel has occupied Palestinian territories and land in Lebanon and Syria for decades, and continues to reject withdrawal or the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul