Defense Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday took the remarkable act of publishing IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir's private letter to him and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, warning that he needs more soldiers lest the IDF lack a sufficient volume for readiness to defend the country by some later point in 2026.
He took this measure after attacks on the government for failing to push for haredim to draft into the IDF in large numbers.
Katz then characterized the letter and Zamir as concerned only with the Knesset's failure to pass a law extending mandatory military service from 30 months to 36 months, but not with the haredim draft issue.
"The longer military service is not extended, the more damage to the army's competence and quality of training will be done," the letter warned, noting that the existing shortage "could lead to the loss of operational capability as early as the coming year."
In contrast, The Jerusalem Post understands that Zamir has been at least as concerned about increasing haredi participation in the IDF as he has about extending mandatory service times, and confirmed this with IDF sources on Tuesday night.
However, this specific letter addresses only the mandatory service issue, while other letters and meetings have addressed Zamir's concern about the government's failure to order the drafting of more haredim.
Incidentally, Zamir insisted on drafting haredim in large numbers even in his opening speech in March 2025, though mentioning the issue was a source of embarrassment for the government, which is seeking to pass a law that will have much more modest goals in terms of drafting haredim.
Katz also attacked opposition figures who ousted Netanyahu and ran the Israeli government from June 2021 to December 2022 for failing to increase the size of the IDF at the time and continuing the trend of reducing the military's size to a "smaller, smarter army."
The defense minister did not mention that the "smaller, smarter army" push began in the mid-2010s under Netanyahu, continued during the [former prime minister] Naftali Bennett and [former prime minister and Opposition leader] Yair Lapid governments, and resumed when Netanyahu returned to power in January 2023.
'Trying to wake the gov't by raising red flags'
In a Monday social media post, Bennett shared a blurred screenshot of the letter, saying that Zamir has been "trying to wake the government by raising red flags."
"Now, it's official," Bennett's post read. "The draft evasion law undermines the IDF's competence and endangers Israel's security."
MK Gadi Eisenkot (Yashar!) called Zamir's letter "a shocking document unlike anything [he'd] ever seen before," N12 cited, and warned of a potential disconnect between Israel's security needs and the country's ability to make political decisions.
Lapid echoed Eisenkot's statement, according to N12, while the Reservists Party, led by Yoaz Hendel, noted that Zamir's letter confirms "repeated calls from the field" about the IDF's manpower shortage.