In view of the processes for which the IBA (Quality Group) mechanism is valid during this period in the personnel systems of the IDF General Staff, and the trend to open the "branded" units such as Unit 8200 and the like to more servants coming from the periphery, it is important to remember and mention - the purpose of the army Is to protect the country, and to that end the overriding duty is to place the right people in the right places.
The People's Army model, according to which most servicemen enlist in the army, has become rare in today's world - all Western countries have in recent decades moved to a professional army model in which those who do so voluntarily, in long-term permanent service, and with a salary accordingly.
The IDF, in this context, has become quite unique and most of those who serve regularly are conscripts enlisted in law.
But as time goes on, the IDF is increasingly challenged as the People's Army - the size of the regular army does not change according to the natural increase of the population and in Israel this means that year after year the percentage of conscripts decreases. % Of the population, and among those who have completed compulsory service, some already claim that the number is close to 50%.
This situation calls into question the legitimacy of compulsory service in a country where 50% of its population does not serve in the military.
But this is not the only challenge facing the IDF - recently, due to the IBA mechanism and the General Staff, attempts are being made to bring the periphery population closer to the branded units in order to create equal opportunities. An army that builds society.
In general, it is very appropriate for the IDF to create as equal an opportunity as possible in all units - regardless of religion, origin, ethnicity, etc. The manpower at the General Staff is to make a match between competence and capability, and the operational requirement.
This is not a simple "sudoku" at all, but the leading criterion must be the operational competence of the arrays in the army.
If anyone thinks for a moment that it is right to lower the standard of action to please populist trends, then he is actually endangering the security of the state, no less and no more.
Hence, any assignment to this or that unit in the IDF must be under the criterion of eligibility. Most of the time the army does so with great professionalism. There will be no guide in the same style. A threshold of admission must be set for each type of service and for each unit.
The resilience of Israeli society does not stem from the color of the skin or the origin of those who serve in Unit 8200, but from the fact that the more populations partner as a collective for the security service, and here must be the main effort of integrating more and more populations for military service in general. This is marginal and dealing with it in my eyes is completely populist.
But sometimes superiors also err in defining the criterion, and in this way miss the potential of service as a mechanism for social integration and solidarity. As the commander of a battalion, I tried to place a deputy commander of a company from the Commonwealth of Independent States in the College of Tactical Command, which is the training of junior combat officers, for the position of company commanders. I saw in the officer the leadership and professional skills required of a field fighter in particular. However, the system did not approve the officer's placement due to "lack of language skills." I do not deny these skills, but in my opinion the leadership skills of that officer were more substantial. The system in these cases can set a criterion that misses the point.
At the end of the day, the IDF as the people's army cannot and must not have a pattern of cheap populism, designed to please such and other power elements in society. The IDF should be the optimal Israeli human mosaic that expresses its best operational capabilities.
In this context, it is appropriate that the energies of the manpower systems be directed more to raising recruitment percentages and less to the mix of servants within the units.