Sebastian Seibt – France 24, 2024
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) is facing increasing challenges as the war against Hamas enters its ninth month. On Monday, Israel lost eight soldiers in an explosion in Rafah, in what Israeli media called the “deadliest incident for IDF” in six months. The number might seem small in the context of the war in Gaza, but the number is far too high for Israeli public opinion.
A week before the explosion, Hamas claimed to have killed an unspecified number of Israeli soldiers after its fighters detonated a booby-trapped house in Rafah.
‘An exhausted army’
The losses underscored Israel’s army chief Herzi Halevi’s warning in recent days about shortages in the military, saying it would prevent Israel from waging the war against Hamas with the same intensity.
Amid a shortage of troops, the army is also facing an unstable political landscape. The relationship between the army and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has deteriorated significantly, with Netanyahu reportedly criticising plans announced by the military to hold daily tactical pauses in fighting to facilitate the delivery of aid to the Palestinian enclave.
The Israeli army is also facing domestic pressure from a population shocked by the Palestinian death toll caused by the Israeli offensive in Gaza. Skirmishes erupted on Monday night between police and anti-government protesters who took to the streets of Jerusalem, before marching to Netanyahu’s private home in the city, to show their discontent over the handling of the war with Hamas in Gaza.
“The IDF is totally exhausted after more than eight months of war,” said Ahron Bregman, a political scientist and specialist in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at King’s College London. “The IDF command, and the defence minister too, are desperate for a break to regroup.”
The Israeli army does not officially comment on the state of fatigue of its troops, but the signs are clear. “We are seeing examples of sooner-than-expected rotation of brigades and battalions,” said Steven Wagner, historian and lecturer in international security at Brunel University London. In other words, the soldiers need more frequent breaks.
Many experts say the October 7 attack on Israeli soil and the intensity of the response decided by Netanyahu’s government, which requires a long-term commitment, surprised an army that was “too small” for the task. Israeli military strategists thought that the era of major regional wars – such as the Six-Day War in 1967 or the Yom Kippur War in 1973 – was over, said Bregman. As a result, “the army disbanded six divisions over the last 20 years. Today it is missing approximately two entire divisions, or 10,000 additional soldiers”.
Finding more soldiers
The situation is complicated by increased fighting between Hezbollah and Israeli forces on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, reported the US public radio NPR. An extension of the war in the north “would be catastrophic for both Lebanon and Israel”, said Bregman.
“In terms of soldiers, tanks and quality of equipment everything is fine on paper for a short war. But in terms of a long war with Hezbollah, no, Israel isn’t ready, and it’s mainly about morale,” said Omri Brinner, a Middle East analyst at the International Team for the Study of Security Verona (ITSS).
Despite this, the Israeli military on Tuesday said that “operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon were approved and validated”. By Wednesday, the military said its warplanes had struck Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon overnight.
Under the circumstances, the priority of Israel’s defence ministry – as well as the army chief – is to increase troop numbers. “The easiest solution would be to mobilise the ultra-Orthodox, but this would be politically delicate for Netanyahu,” said Brinner.
The contribution to the army would be significant. In 2023, over 60,000 young men from the ultra-Orthodox community received an exemption from military service.
Scrapping this privilege authorised by Israeli law would infuriate the ultra-religious and far-right parties, which currently constitute the main source of support for Netanyahu’s government.
The government is therefore looking for other solutions for the manpower shortage. It is preparing to adopt a new bill delaying retirement for IDF reservists. The proposal would raise the exemption age for reserve military service from 40 to 41 for soldiers and from 45 to 46 for officers.
“It’s clearly a way to deal with the fatigue issue,” said Wagner. But using older reservists in high-risk areas would “bring the quality of the army down”, he warned.
Netanyahu vs Gallant
Even if the army found the resources to sufficiently increase its numbers, “strategic command problems at the highest level” will still exist, said Brinner.
Netanyahu’s dissolution of the war cabinet earlier this week has plunged the army into strategic limbo.
“Netanyahu is under intense pressure from his allies on the right,” said Brinner, noting that the Israeli leader’s reliance on the ultra-religious parties has reduced his ability to maneuver around the thorny issue of enlisting ultra-Orthodox members in the armed services.
The Israeli prime minister could theoretically rely on his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, but “the situation is unprecedented, with the two men cordially hating each other and ready to jump at each other’s throats at the slightest opportunity”, said Wagner.
At a time of serious challenges, the Israeli army needs troops as well as clear direction from above. While the army can hold out for a few more months, experts say the stated goals of destroying Hamas and freeing all the hostages are unattainable under the current circumstances.
Too bad for Israel that Jews are such cowards, otherwise, the IDF would be SWAMPED with volunteers from the Diaspora; American Jews alone would be more than enough!
Instead, Israel’s Jew population is shrinking, as they flee Israel for Brooklyn or wherever.
Draft the wacko Orthodox racists. Send them on the offensive! LOL! All they want is the extermination of the Goyim, so let them do it. You’d think they’d want to! Oh yeah, they don’t wanna DIE!
Why aren’t military age male Jews flying into Israel by the thousands daily? LOL!
Israel is toast. Finally!
Here we go again, with the fictitious ‘Israeli casualties’ nonsense.
Satanjahu go to Rothschild ! get him to pay
foreign mercenaries . there are enough idiots
(zionist christians) wanting to fight for you .
orthodox Talmud jews mostly dont work + live
from wellfare or from illegale business (organ-
diamond trade) or as chicken/cattle slaughterers.
they love whole day only studying the Talmud .
“Israeli army in urgent need of troops amid rising casualties in Gaza” … Don’t worry, there are shit-loads of Americunts who are dangerously stupid or psychopathic enough to actually volunteer to continue to flock to the force of darkness to murder innocent people and destroy their cuntries…then when whomever survives another war for Satanic Jewry can get shipped back to their shell of a cuntry, which has been sucked dry by that same Jewry, to hear “Thank you for your service”™ droned out by sniveling shit-stains and drooling imbeciles. It’s the Americunt way.
The United States – Fighting for the Wrong F*cking Side Since 1913. *Actually 1861, but whatever,,,
The Jews worked diligently to effemize the goyim, as well as to diversify the west.
Now they don’t know where to get manly goyim to fight for them, the goyim too demoralized and atrophied to care about Jews.
The Oyveyometer is reading 9.6.
So the Orthodox pick the war, but they are exempted from fighting in it? What??????? That Israel’s days may be numbered is a good thing…don’t get me wrong…but there will be a very negative side effect I’m afraid…they’ll likely be coming stateside in large numbers…hell, maybe we’ll be having our homes bulldozed in the middle of the night because a child of ours tossed a rock at a group of gangsta Jewboys with funny hats and curly cues down the sides of their faces!!!
Regarding a somewhat unrelated topic…I can name the following aliases of Nico X off the top of my head: Aleister, Crowley, karen, and now, it appears, “Abe Pagoda.” Can anyone propose a comprehensive list? The person with the longest, most credible list will have my respect and admiration…I can offer no other prize, unfortunately!
forced aliyah from every country…arm the arabs..then sit back & watch (((their))) Endtimes
@ dwd LOL Yes, our man Nico has at least 20 pseudos as far as I can tell. I couldn’t possibly name them all at the moment, but we know ’em when we see ’em. The odd thing is, and don’t y’all hate me for it haha, I have actually always liked Nico and agree with the theme of many of his comments. But the pseudo fan club is alarming, like mentally ill alarming. I’d still have a couple beers with the guy.
The Jewish Globalist Cabal has weakened European economies to prepare for the return of the Jews from Israel. Lots of discount of assets for the returning priveleged refugees who will go to the head of line in European academia, finance, banking and media. Their network in Europe will be envigorated and stregnthened like never before. But then the exploitation and degeneracy will increase and the cycle begins agains until another fascist party arises to clean house and send them on their way. Patagonia is one of the Jewish preferred directions. Perhaps this is why the recent Jewish convert, the insane Xavier Milei was selected for the presidency. Also the new Jewish president of Mexico may endorse wholesale Israeli immigration to Mexico. They have to go somewhere.
Oyveyometer; HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!
@ AL
yes the jew refugees will occupy all higher positions
in europa + I think it is good that then their no more
util freemasons + goyim traitors loose their positions
+ get no more chances ! my opinion : if the white
european natives loose everything the upper goyim
traitors (like von der Lying clan) should fall into the abyss !