The Cradle – Aug 28, 2025
The exhaustion and disillusionment facing the Israeli army have threatened to “complicate” Tel Aviv’s plans for the upcoming assault to seize and occupy Gaza City, according to soldiers and officers cited by the New York Times (NYT) on 28 August.
“It’s not clear how many of them will return to the fight,” NYT highlighted.
The report notes how a growing number of Israeli army reservists have not been showing up for service.
Around a dozen officers and soldiers told NYT that there are “depleted and exhausted units,” adding that 40 to 50 percent of their comrades were “not turning up for duty.”
Others said that there are soldiers who have dropped out of the military due to the belief that the “war is no longer just.” A handful of soldiers have faced penalties for failing to report for duty, while some others have served short prison sentences.
Four Israeli security sources confirmed to NYT that Israeli army chief Eyal Zamir’s opposition to the occupation plans is in part due to the soldiers’ fitness to serve. Zamir has also expressed concern over the danger the operation poses to Israeli captives and the strain it will place on the army.
“The shortfall will make completing the operation more difficult,” two Israeli defense officials said.
Omer Dank, an Israeli military analyst and air force reservist, said, “We keep trying to squeeze out everything we can without real strategic planning. The current model is unsustainable. The army is exhausted.”
Other analysts are cited as saying that reservists have done hundreds of days of service – negatively affecting their home lives, education, and work.
One soldier told NYT that his 100-man company had decreased to 60 troops. Another said only half his team showed up during the reservist call-up late last year.
Due to the manpower issue, Israel’s High Court last year ordered the conscription of ultra-Orthodox religious students who have for years been exempted from service. This has caused a crisis in Israel, with ultra-Orthodox parties demanding an exemption law and some even withdrawing from the government.
The Israeli army in April extended mandatory service by four months due to the manpower crisis.
Israeli Army Radio reported last week that the military is considering reaching out to the Jewish Diaspora abroad to encourage recruitment of 18 to 25-year-olds, particularly in France and the US.
The army had said that 130,000 Israeli reserve soldiers would be called up for the assault on Gaza City.
In April, around 1,000 Israeli reserve soldiers from the air force signed a letter of protest demanding the prioritization of returning captives from Gaza over the continuation of the war, which they said is being waged for personal and political reasons.
NEWS FROM THE TRENCHES”
HOW CAN POLITICIANS BE SO OUT OF TOUCH
Politicians have been warned against “making a hero” of Lucy Connolly as more than half of politicians think they should distance themselves from her.
The 42-year-old was jailed for being the voice of the people after she tweeted that people should “set fire” to asylum hotels during last year’s Southport riots. The authorities in a vile racist attack on the woman, for saying what we all think sent her to prison
Since her release, she has claimed that she was a “political prisoner” – despite being forced to plead guilty on the now-deleted post on X.
The ordinary people have rushed to champion her, with Nigel Farage expected to share her story with Trump allies on a trip to Washington next week. There is a petition for her to stand as an MP
The UK is americas only friend in the world and Trump, is worried as we slide into a communist state, people here are asking him to take over the country and prosecute Starmer and co, since positive discrimination against white folk, UK people are already second class citizens behind the migrants, Trump wants to stop the slide, as more anti UK people are in the pipe line
nutenyahu has said jordan egypt and turkey will be swallowed up in the new greater israel
Turkey is braced for israel to send in the americans
they will not give up easily i promise you
nutty is in for some shocks
Sounds like a load of crap coming from those guys….theyve got plenty of soldiers, they are looking for Americans to get in on the act, or mercenaries, paid for by others.
many israelis believe nutenyahu made a bad mistake inviting in hamas on october 7
his plan failed, their is talk of an assassination
Jews to avoid military draft are flocking into Turkey
LOL!!!! Cowardly Jews! Oh yeah, thousands of Kikes will come running from the Diaspora to fight for Israel! LOL!!! How absurd is that expectation? I love it! Punks! If they weren’t getting their asses shot off in Gaza, and all they had to do is murder children, they’d be OK with that.
But facing real men? HA! They wet their pants at the thought of facing Hamas freedom fighters! I always make a toast to dead IDF! It doesn’t look like Ukraine will become the new Rothschild crime capital. The way Europe is acting in sync against Russia just shows they are ruled by Rothschild Jewry. DEATH to Israel!
turkey has closed its air space to israeli planes
this is the start of israels punishment
Israel has shown a talent for inducing the U.S. and other countries to fight its wars and for asymmetric tactics, like putting bombs into cell phones. The latter incident, in conjunction with the fall of Syria, has apparently been a significant blow to Hezbollah. But fighting wars man-to-man isn’t their forte because their fighting force is comprised of a high percentage of cowards, homosexuals, and women.
Bad news for Richard D. Hall, as the corrupt legal system bulldozer through his bankruptcy. There’s a fund rasing appeal for his son, because other parties presumably are at risk.
I would just like to say that RDH has been a beacon of truth in this sorrid Nazi hell hole we call Britain, and I hope he gets the support he deserves.
@ Carl Jones,
LOL! Isn’t Richard D. Hall the Alex Jones of UK? Seriously, isn’t he the loud-mouth who went around harassing family members of the Manchester concert bombing … exactly like Alex Jones?
Then, in shame, when he was sued he admitted in court that he’s just an “entertainer and troll” and doesn’t believe a word he says. Again, straight out of the Alex Jones playbook, except that when Alex Jones was sued by the families, he said he was mentally ill. No joke … the court deposition is on YouTube, and pretty embarrassing as Jones starts crying saying he’s mentally ill, and made everything up.
Anyway, the more of these kooks go bankrupt, the better it is for all of us.
nazi Britain ?
what planet is this guy on ?
even trump said we are slipping into a communist state
feckin idiot
Ahhhhh. Poor things. Evokes sympathy, those tired soldiers. Those exhausted so-called “Settlers” who work so hard at destroying olive trees, killing sheep, and all their work. And as others noted, perhaps American soldiers can take their place. Perhaps more money should be robbed from America to give to Israel so that it can bomb more and more and more. Perhaps American politicians can receive more campaign money in order to increase the foreign aid Israel deserves.
And no more journalists in Gaza. No more stories of what Israel does, because that’s the new anti-semitism.
But, wait! If that’s the new anti-semitism, are reasons for the old anti-semitism as valid as the new?
If so, there will be a slew of convoluted and reason-mind-bending justifications.