The law to shorten the compulsory service for males in the IDF from 32 months to 30 months will go into effect on Monday. It will apply to those who enlist from now on. The decision was made before the war and is challenging the defense establishment which, due to the war and lack of manpower, wishes to extend the compulsory service period to 36 months as it had been in the past. The defense establishment also wants to defer the exemption age by a year but for the moment, the vote on the issue in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee has been postponed since the chairman, MK Yuli Edelstein, announced that he will not vote on the law until there is a wide consensus. Related articles: Netanyahu, Katz vow strong response Helicopter shoots down UAV en route to Israel 'You are the eyes of the nation, IDF failed but you didn't' Dozens of officers appointed to new positions Israel Hayom reported that in light of the security situation, the IDF needs to keep a large deployment of forces on the borders in the north, south, and Judea and Samaria, while also preparing for war. In any scenario, the force on the Gaza border will need to be large for a long time, as well as in the north, whether or not a war with Hezbollah would break out. Growing IDF depends much on the ability to enlist haredim, but despite the Supreme Court ruling, it is doubtful that there will be droves of haredim rushing the enlistment centers in the near future. To meet the Supreme Court decision's wording, the Personnel Directorate has been working to find 3,000 haredim with a high chance of enlisting if they receive the order to do so. It is estimated that the work will be completed within the coming weeks, and then the draft will be sent, but it is unclear how many will actually enlist. The military explained that whether the haredim enlisted or not, the complex situation demands more manpower, and therefore it is clearly necessary to extend the service period by four months and to defer the exemption age by a year.
