In recent weeks, Defense Minister Yoav Galant appointed Maj. Gen. (retd.) Eliezer Shkedi to the position of project manager for the recruitment and integration of Haredim in the IDF.
According to a report by Michael Shemesh this morning (Sunday) on Channel 2, Galant and the defense establishment are interested in recruiting as many Haredi as possible into the army.
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Shkedi was one of the founders of the "Blue Dawn" project to integrate Haredim into the Air Force when he served as commander of the force.
Now the defense establishment hopes to try additional ways to recruit Haredim.
The draft law is not on the agenda at this stage. The Haredim, who wanted to promote it immediately with the start of the session, abandoned their plans in light of the war. In the meantime, the IDF is planning to extend the draft period for all service members, and hopes to expand the number of recruits from the Haredi community.
As part of the recruitment cycle, recruitment for the Haredi tracks took place at the beginning of the month, which includes recruiting fighters for the Netzah Yehuda Battalion of the Kfir Brigade, the Arrow Company of the Paratroopers Brigade, the Tomer Company of the Givati Brigade, and the Magen Negev Company of the Air Force.
As part of the current recruitment, a first-of-its-kind pilot was launched to integrate Haredi soldiers into the yeshiva department in the Golani Brigade, in which five recruits were integrated.
According to published IDF data, Haredi recruitment figures for the December 2023 cohort were particularly disappointing - what's more, most of the recruits have been out of yeshiva for a long time and are not considered Haredi:
Netzah Yehuda Battalion, Kfir Brigade - 114 recruits
Tomer Company, Givati Brigade - 34 recruits
Arrow Company, Paratrooper Brigade - 23 recruits
Magen Negev Company, Air Force - 12 recruits
Five recruits were integrated into the yeshiva youth department in the Golani Brigade
Total: 188 ultra-Orthodox recruits, total recruitment percentage of target: 85%.
