
Yedioth Ahronoth military analyst Yossi Yehoshua reported this morning that the IDF's Personnel Division has devised a special plan for incorporating haredi recruits in new units.
The program starts at the IDF screening stages and includes unique tests for haredi soldiers who studied in yeshivas, taking advantage of the qualities they acquired there, even if they did not study core subjects. They are simultaneously working to train male psychotechnical evaluators, since most of this process is operated by women.
Yehoshua notes that "it can also encourage motivation, as haredi leaders who are in contact with IDF officers complained that units such as the elite 8200 are closed to yeshiva students."
A senior officer said that recruiting many haredi soldiers would require very substantial adjustments, that he claimed would "require concessions from the secular society."
One of the solutions being considered is the establishment of a haredi yeshiva on the Jordan Valley border, where soldiers will serve in defense missions while continuing their Torah studies.
The IDF is also considering setting up a special training base for haredi soldiers, from which they will be able to join other units, and the Air Force is even conducting such a pilot.
A senior officer adds, "We have to increase the combat units, and it is impossible to put an even greater burden on the reservists. Therefore, we will change the screening and evaluation processes, improve the infrastructure, develop unique training bases and adapt the existing facilities, but for this the haredi community needs to show interest in enlisting."
The army notes that the existing units for the haredi public are not full at all. In the last recruitment, only 114 haredim enlisted in the Netzach Yehuda Battalion. The Tomer company in Givati recruited 34 soldiers, the Arrow company in the paratroopers 23, and the Magen Negev company in the Air Force 12.