IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir on Thursday said that soldiers should be the ones to be prioritized after the Knesset advanced a highly controversial Basic Law declaring Torah study a foundational value of the State of Israel, a day earlier.

“The soldiers and commanders in mandatory service, career service, and the reserves are the State of Israel’s most important resource,” Zamir said during an assessment this morning.

“It is fitting and right that they be first in the order of priorities to receive the state’s appreciation through its decisions and resources, while ensuring care for them, their families, and their future,” he said.

The proposal has drawn fierce opposition, including from within the coalition, with critics arguing that the measure is a transparent attempt to circumvent High Court rulings requiring the enlistment of ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students by legislatively entrenching Torah study as a national value to shield draft evaders from sanctions and prosecution.

Absent a constitution, Basic Laws in Israel have the highest legal status in the country.

The advancement of the bill came after a series of mass Haredi demonstrations over the arrests of draft dodgers, who have blocked traffic and targeted police and judges in recent weeks.

On Thursday, a senior military officer again stressed to lawmakers that the IDF urgently needs the government to pass legislation to address the army’s personnel shortages.

Speaking at the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Brig. Gen. Shay Tayeb, head of the IDF Personnel Directorate’s Planning and Personnel Management Division,........

© The Times of Israel