IDF Eyal Zamir pushes Knesset FADC to help draft haredim

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in a closed session on Sunday that the military requires large-scale conscription of ultra-Orthodox (haredi) personnel and passage of laws extending mandatory and reserve service to address a severe manpower shortage, warning in March that the IDF could collapse without solutions. Zamir's remarks follow his leaked March statement to the security cabinet flagging ten critical concerns; relations between the IDF leadership and FADC Chairman Boaz Bismuth remain strained over disputed interpretations of the conscription issue and prior leaks from the committee.