Hasmonean Brigade’s first officer graduates
Fifteen cadets in the IDF’s Hasmonean Brigade for ultra-Orthodox soldiers completed an eight-month officers’ course today. They will be qualified as officers and receive their ranks at a ceremony this evening near the Western Wall.
The graduates include soldiers who began their service in the brigade and rose through its ranks, alongside Haredi troops from other units who joined the brigade to serve as squad commanders.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir met with the cadets today, telling them they are “making history and breaking new ground.”
“You are leaders fulfilling a great vision of the entire Jewish people. I see the Haredi community as an inseparable part of Israeli society,” Zamir said, according to remarks provided by the military.
“You are already integrated into operational activities, and you will be able to be deployed for any mission, on defense and offense,” he told them. ” Your success is important to the IDF and the entire people of Israel.”
The military said the course followed its protocols for integrating Haredi soldiers, “while accommodating their lifestyle.” It included strict kosher food standards, designated study and prayer times, and a gender-segregated environment, while retaining all content normally taught at the Bahad 1 officers’ school.
The next course for Hasmonean Brigade soldiers is scheduled to begin in November.
The brigade’s establishment is part of efforts to expand ultra-Orthodox enlistment amid personnel shortages caused by the war. It also aims to demonstrate that military service can coexist with ultra-Orthodox observance, despite opposition to enlistment from leading Haredi rabbis.
Forty airport detainees express willingness to serve
Forty ultra-Orthodox Chabad men detained at Ben Gurion Airport have expressed willingness to enlist, according to the IDF. An earlier military statement said 42 draft evaders were apprehended after landing in Israel.
Thirteen men who initially refused to enlist, and whom the IDF earlier said had been tried and sent to military prison, subsequently signed affidavits expressing willingness to serve. They join 27 others who signed commitments before a judge, were found fit for service, received suspended jail sentences and were released home.
The IDF said the 40 will enlist “in the coming period and be assigned to the various Haredi service tracks.” Its latest update did not specify whether the 13 who subsequently agreed to enlist had been released.
The other two detainees were immediately sent to military prison because they had evaded service for more than 540 days, the military said.
Netanyahu criticizes arrests; Likud defends enlistment approach
Netanyahu criticized operations to arrest ultra-Orthodox draft evaders as “Unacceptable, an attempt to undermine the recruitment process.”
Likud subsequently defended his position, saying he has consistently called for ultra-Orthodox enlistment, including directly in an interview with the Haredi public. The party said those who do not study Torah must serve, while those who declare, “We will die rather than enlist,” will go to prison.
Likud claimed its approach would enlist 23,000 ultra-Orthodox men over three years, compared with 5,000 under legislation introduced by the left-wing bloc. It also alleged that Netanyahu’s opponents were privately offering the ultra-Orthodox a complete military exemption in exchange for bringing down his government.
