Zamir Urges Removal of IDF Review Panel From Draft-Arrest Freeze

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz and Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth to remove a three-officer military panel from the draft-arrest freeze bill. The panel would decide whether individual yeshiva students meet the bill’s Torah-study conditions. Zamir warned that the proposal would not add personnel, could encourage non-reporting for service and would divert wartime resources to a task outside the army’s expertise. He said making officers determine eligibility could damage service members’ trust as the Knesset prepares the temporary measure for final votes.