The extension of mandatory IDF service approved by the Knesset last week will not solve the military’s growing manpower shortage, Maj.-Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa, head of the IDF Personnel Directorate, said in a letter sent to service members and commanders on Friday.
Bar Kalifa wrote that the extension of mandatory service approved by the Knesset plenum on Thursday “does not eliminate the need to expand the pool of draftees.”
According to Bar Kalifa, Israel’s operational needs require legislation to create an effective conscription law, as well as an additional extension of mandatory service to enable a broader force buildup.
He also referred to Israel’s wartime reality, writing: “The IDF has been at war for about three years and is carrying out its missions, thanks to you, the male and female service members, with determination and professionalism, and is achieving exceptional operational results. The state of war requires extraordinary physical and mental strength.”
The Knesset plenum approved on Thursday, in its second and third readings, a bill extending mandatory IDF service to 32 months under a temporary order.
Measure passed amid controversial debate over equality in IDF service
The measure passed by a vote of 43-12 amid public debate over equality in military service and includes an economic compensation mechanism for soldiers whose service will be retroactively extended.
Under the approved law, the reduction of mandatory service to 30 months, which had been scheduled to apply to soldiers drafted in July 2024, will now apply only to those drafted in June 2029. The bill’s explanatory notes state that the extension is needed immediately to enable the IDF to meet its operational goals and security requirements.
Despite the law’s passage, IDF representatives told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the additional service time is insufficient and that the military is facing a shortage of approximately 12,000 soldiers, including 7,500 combat troops.
IDF Chief of Staff Maj.-Gen. Eyal Zamir recently presented cabinet ministers with what he described as a grim assessment, calling for mandatory service to be extended to 36 months and warning the political leadership: “I am raising 12 red flags; the army will collapse into itself.”
Senior officers said the extension is urgently needed to ease the burden on the overstretched reserve system and allow regular units to resume training.
