Occupied Jerusalem- 5 soldiers were killed and 14 others were wounded from the battalion.Judea righteousness“During an operation carried out by the Palestinian resistance in Hanoun North Gaza StripAccording to a statement For the Israeli army Today Tuesday.
Initial investigations indicate that the ambush, on Monday evening, occurred during the movement of two battalions to purify the area, when a foot force passed from the 97th battalion on a booby -trapped road, in which two explosive devices exploded, and this was followed by heavy shooting targeting the evacuation teams.
This bombing incident sheds light on the battalion that was previously known as “Nahal Al -Haraidim”, which consists of soldiers with religious backgrounds Ulcerate A nationalist religious, which for the first time is an actual fight in the Gaza Strip after its experience was focused in West Bank It is of less dangerous security.
Battalion composition
The roots of “Najah Judea” go back to a founding experience in 1961 under the name “Nahl Al -Haraidim”, when a point was held in the “Amuz” point on the initiative of Rabbi Moshe Ernster, and with the support of Rabbi Haim Meir Hajar. After its failure, it was formed in other regions, but it was closed in the seventies based on the recommendation of a committee Moshe Dayan.
It was rebuilt in a new way in 1999 as a small unit within the 903 battalion, before it became in 2002 an independent battalion within the Kfir Brigade under the name “Najah Judea”, and it works under joint supervision between the rabbis and the Israeli Ministry of War.
Its mission centered on the assimilation of young Haredim, who left school or wanted to engage in the army without prejudice to their religious lifestyle.
Although the battalion aims to integrate the Haraidim into the army, it faced from the beginning a severe rabbi, which led to a general reluctance among the Haraidim from military service, and the battalion gradually turned into a focus of attraction for the people of the hard -line nationalist religious current, and young men from the movement.HabadAnd others from foreign volunteers.
In 2006, non -Haridim accounted for about 30% of the battalion’s strength, and their percentage increased to 60% in 2012, which raised questions about the fact of the “Juda Judea” composition, and whether it still represents the Harid framework for which it was established.
Standard of efficiency
The ongoing Israeli war on Gaza witnessed the first wide field participation of the battalion in a thick and complex fighting battlefield like the Gaza Strip, where operations were carried out in the Beit Hanoun area, and participated in the destruction of military infrastructure and ambushes of the fighters.
But on the other hand, the battalion paid a heavy price for the human forces, killing three of its members last May, then five others in July.
Yesterday, Monday, the most recent ambush re -raising sharp questions within the military and political establishment in Israel, most notably: Are we sweeping Jews eligible to fight a complex war like the Gaza war? Does the battalion pay the price of insufficient training, and a previous experience limited to the West Bank? Can this failure be loaded just because of the limited qualification, or is the battalion structure and its ideological and religious structure limits its operational efficiency?
These losses, says the Haaretz newspaper correspondent for religious affairs and the Haridi community, Harun Rabinovich, to fuel the political and social debate in Israel on the future of the recruitment of Haridim.
He explained that the supporters see in the battalion a capabilities of gradual development and integration, and they see that the Bayt Hanoun ambush should push towards more professional training. On the other hand, the Harid movement rejecting the recruitment may take advantage of this incident to enhance its fears, stressing that the war “is not a place for the Torah.”
Thus, Rabinovich adds, “The tragedy of Beit Hanoun goes beyond the limits of human losses, to feed a severe national identity crisis in Israel between the military state and the religious state, and between coercion of integration and freedom of belief, in a complex political and security moment that is overwhelmed by the continuation of the war in Gaza and the escalating internal division.”
Parallel to the army announced the human losses incurred by “Nazah Yuda” in Beit Hanoun, a senior official in the “Digl Haturah” party waved the resignation from the government coalition if the law of exempting religious school students was not raised from compulsory recruitment after the Prime Minister’s return Benjamin NetanyahuFrom his visit toWashington.
Sources in the Haridi parties expressed their anger at the postponement of the head of the Foreign and Security Committee, Edlstein, to hand over the draft law, despite his daily promises a month ago, according to the newspaper “Maariv”.
In KnessetThe Harid parties stressedJudat“And”Contamination“The boycott procedures for government legislation, and refused to vote with the coalition in protest against the delay in the law, forcing the government to withdraw bills from the voting schedule.
Limited integration
This crisis comes in light of the start of the Israeli army to send recruitment orders to 54,000 religious school students, amid warnings of “suffocation” in military prisons if the arrest of the evaders began.
Despite the continued work of the exemption law from military service, the merger of the Haridim in the Israeli Defense Army is still limited. In 2024, the army spokesman announced that 338 new recruits from the Haredi Sector for Compulsory Service, including 211 in combat paths and 127 in support roles.
According to the military affairs correspondent in the newspaper “Yediot Aharonot”, Yawaf Zaitoun, the army is making efforts to expand the service paths allocated to Haridim, while working to adapt them in proportion to their peculiarities and conditions of their lives.
This step comes, Zaitoun says, “In the context of efforts to enhance their involvement in military service,” whether in combat roles or support. In this context, the army sent about 7,000 recruitment orders to non -commissioned officers from the Hared sector, in preparation for their integration into the upcoming recruitment sessions.
The military correspondent explained that, despite the continuous political debate on the exemption law, the military establishment confirms that it is continuing its efforts to integrate the Haraidim, considering the “Israeli Defense Army the People’s Army”, which seeks to participate in all groups of society in serving its security and operational needs.