According to a report published by military correspondent Yoav Ziton in Ynet, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir recently urged members of Israel’s national security cabinet to abandon what he described as unrealistic expectations regarding the ongoing conflict with Hamas.
Zamir reportedly told the ministers they needed to “give up on some of their fantasies” about the Gaza war, citing a shortage of available ground troops, according to Ziton’s report.
He is also said to have remarked that, even in the current military campaign targeting Hamas, the cabinet would have to rely entirely on the Israel Defense Forces, without the support of any parallel diplomatic initiative.
In response to the article, a cabinet official told The Jerusalem Post that the report was “complete fake,” and a second source labeled the claims as “reckless,” denying the comments were made.
Contradicting them, however, a third individual familiar with the discussion insisted that Zamir had indeed made those remarks, stating they were “100%” said during the meeting.
The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit addressed the article earlier on Monday, stating, “We will not comment on what was said in closed discussions. The IDF is preparing for a wide range of developments in the war, including the mobilization of reservists to expand operations in the Gaza Strip. We will not elaborate on these plans for obvious reasons.”
Later that evening, the IDF issued a further statement, clarifying: “The report that was allegedly published regarding the chief of staff’s position before the political echelon pertains to what was said in a closed and operational discussion. It has been distorted, and it does not reflect the reality of the matter.”
The same cabinet member quoted earlier backed the IDF’s rebuttal.
Despite this, Ziton maintained that the military’s denial stemmed from political interference rather than factual inaccuracy.
Members of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee reacted to the original report, tying the military’s personnel challenges to the government’s failure to draft more soldiers from the chareidi community.
Committee Chairman MK Yuli Edelstein of Likud said, “If Hamas was the IDF’s only mission, the army is certainly strong and capable enough to handle Hamas.”
“However, Hamas is not the central threat to the State of Israel at present, and it is certainly not the only threat.”
He went on to say, “Israel needs a larger army to stand against and defeat all of its enemies. Reservists require a stronger army to meet their goals – both in the military and as citizens.
“As I have said in the past and say now, the enlistment of ultra-Orthodox Jews is not a matter of wishful thinking but a necessity. This is not hatred of the ultra-Orthodox but love for the state and the land of our forefathers.
“With God’s help, I will not rest until I bring forth a proper, real, and effective draft law,” he declared.
MK Moshe Tur-Paz of Yesh Atid, another committee member, echoed the concerns, saying, “Zamir quickly discovered what every reservist who has experienced a year and a half of combat and hundreds of days in the reserves already knows: The reservists are collapsing.
“Prolonged attacks on those who voice this distress will not make it disappear. Without the enlistment of ultra-Orthodox Jews, there cannot be a strong Israel in the long run. Our security is in immediate danger,” said Tur-Paz.
MK Sharon Nir of Yisrael Beytenu, who also sits in the cabinet, said bluntly, “The government must mandate the enlistment of everyone into the IDF at the age of 18 – no tricks, quotas, or targets. The draft-dodging law must be immediately removed from the agenda!”
{Matzav.com Israel}