Commentary | A Time to Rebuild: Why the IDF Needs Recovery, Renewal, and a Return to Its Core Values

The details of the agreement between the United States and Iran are not yet fully known. However, if the deal crafted by dealmaker-in-chief Trump truly promises a ceasefire in the Iranian and Lebanese arenas, it offers at least some hope – however faint – for a period of relative calm. It is a hope that the country's residents, particularly those in northern Israel, may finally enjoy a measure of peace and quiet.

This is precisely the time to begin restoring the Israel Defense Forces: rebuilding capabilities, refreshing doctrine, reinforcing values, and renewing familiarity with the IDF's ethical foundations. The military, its commanders, and its soldiers all need a respite from combat as part of a broader recovery process. The Chief of Staff cannot afford to rest, however. He faces a dual responsibility: safeguarding the country and its borders while preparing the military for the next war, in the hope that it never comes.

In recent weeks and months, the public has repeatedly heard assessments that the military is worn down, exhausted, and short tens of thousands of personnel. This is a force that has fought on five, six, even seven fronts. There is no precedent among the world's militaries for older reservists serving one hundred, two hundred, or even three hundred days of reserve duty in a single year.

If a period of calm, however relative, does emerge, those responsible for filling military gaps will not be resting. Weapons, munitions, weapons systems, vehicles, armored platforms, and logistical requirements all need replenishment. Procurement officials and those coordinating with Israel's defense industries will remain fully occupied. Order books at home and abroad have grown unusually long after more than three years of war since October 7.

Nor will those responsible for training. Units have been disbanded, merged, and reorganized according to operational needs. The military includes both career personnel and reservists with combat experience in Gaza, Lebanon, and the West Bank. New recruits must be trained for the next war – which will not be the last one.

They must be prepared to face both advanced technology-based threats and "primitive" systems that emit no signals and remain connected to their operators through fiber-optic cables, yet are highly lethal. New battlefield technologies will undoubtedly emerge. Intelligence services must identify them before they strike.

That covers the material dimension; now comes the human one.

Since the October 7 disaster, Israeli society has been living with varying degrees of trauma. The public remains under strain, has become familiar with the term PTSD and the medications associated with it. Children in northern communities live in fear, while children in central Israel have been traumatized by nighttime air-raid sirens. The IDF – conscripts, career personnel, and reservists alike – is not immune to these effects.

Such conditions inevitably create fertile ground for negative phenomena among soldiers, particularly younger ones. There have been tragic incidents of friendly fire, each an unbearable loss. There have been cases of disciplinary violations and disobedience, though not on a scale that undermined operational effectiveness, as well as incidents of looting in occupied areas.

The Chief of Staff and the senior command must also address the gradual infiltration of ideological trends into the military, such as soldiers wearing "Messiah" patches on their uniforms. Likewise, there are incidents in which settlers attack Palestinians in the territories while nearby IDF units stand by without intervening.

The issue of ultra-Orthodox military service is fundamentally political and partisan, and the military should avoid becoming entangled in it. However, the ongoing debates surrounding gender integration in the armed forces are different. A rabbi recently stated on a radio program discussing men and women serving together in tanks that, in his view, Jewish law and the Shulchan Aruch take precedence over military orders. Should that really be the case in a modern army?

These are issues that demand the military's attention. The IDF needs an internal educational effort to remind those who may have forgotten that every unit has one commander, and only one. When soldiers enlist, they swear to obey their commanders and no one else. That principle applies from the orders of the General Staff down to those of a platoon commander.

In a few months, Israel is expected to hold parliamentary elections. For countless reasons, this is likely to be a difficult – perhaps even brutal – election campaign. The military must keep its distance from politics and prevent any form of electioneering, partisan activity, or political campaigning from entering its ranks.

In the past, it may have been sufficient simply to publish party platforms on military bases. Those days are gone. Campaign messages will reach every phone, tablet, and computer. The military's educational system must take a proactive role in teaching young soldiers the principles of democracy. Political activism, propaganda, party politics, and election campaigning have no place within military camps and bases.

Such education carries important civic and ethical value, particularly for 18-year-olds who have only recently transitioned from civilian life into a hierarchical military framework governed by rules, orders, and procedures. Commanders have a responsibility to discuss with their soldiers the importance of maintaining a clear separation between political activity and military service.

There are no – and there must not be – labels within the IDF such as right-wing, left-wing, centrist, religious, ultra-Orthodox, secular, atheist, Jewish, Arab, Druze, or Circassian. The military is a vast mix of people from diverse backgrounds. They are all, ultimately, on the same mission. 

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