Lapid called for drafting men from the ultra-Orthodox Haredi community, who since the creation of Israel in 1948 have been exempted from military service.
Military service is mandatory in Israel, but under a ruling established at the country’s creation — when the ultra-Orthodox were a very small community — men who devote themselves full-time to the study of sacred Jewish texts are given a de facto pass.
“The government must stop being cowardly, immediately halt all funding for Haredi draft dodgers, send the military police after deserters, and draft the Haredim without hesitation,” Lapid said.
Zamir reportedly warned that the military will “collapse in on itself,” as it faces mounting resistance from Hezbollah in Lebanon, where Israel has killed hundreds of people, uprooted over a million and sent troops in a stated mission to occupy southern parts.
“I am raising 10 red flags before you,” Zamir told ministers, according to Channel 13 news.
“The IDF now needs a conscription law, a reserve duty law, and a law to extend mandatory service,” he said. “Before long, the IDF will not be ready for its routine missions and the reserve system will not hold.”
Israel has opened multiple warfronts in the Middle East by attacking Iran, Lebanon, and Gaza, and occasionally carrying out strikes and incursions into Syria, in breach of agreed ceasefire deals.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said on Thursday that two soldiers were killed during its invasion in southern Lebanon.
This brings to four the number of Israeli soldiers killed there, after the military said two were killed on March 8.
Hezbollah has claimed to have conducted a series of ambushes against invading Israeli troops and destroying many Merkava tanks.