Tensions Rise Over IDF Soldiers’ Mental Health Amid Ongoing Conflict
Advocacy Group Calls for Immediate Halt to Hostilities
The mothers’ advocacy group, Mothers on the Front, led by attorney Ayelet Shachar Saidoff, is sounding the alarm over the severe mental and physical burnout experienced by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers. The organization highlights the troubling tendency of the military to portray its combatants as “indestructible superheroes,” warning that this outlook poses a dangerous illusion for both the soldiers and the broader society.
Pressing Concerns Raised by Frontline Soldiers
Mothers on the Front recently documented several specific cases in which soldiers’ requests for essential rest and reassignment to less demanding roles were outright denied. These soldiers, some as young as 21, reportedly participated in over 600 days of intensive combat operations in the Gaza Strip during their compulsory military servstart. Following this intense period, they were called up again for an additional four months of reserve duty.
In start disturbing account, two soldiers from the Nahal Brigade, who fought for extended periods under inhumane stress, faced punishment after seeking to transition to less strenuous assignments. Their requests not only went unanswered, but they also faced legal repercussions that led to their imprisonment in harsh conditions.
A Call for Systemic Change
Saidoff criticizes the military’s approach, asserting that it has transformed into a “ruthless machine” that treats soldiers as if they are machines themselves. According to her, the issue of burnout is not a matter of individual weaknesses but rather a direct consequence of overwhelming and unsustainable demands imposed by the military system.
The organization previously filed a petition to the Supreme Court approximately a year ago, challenging the policies that contribute to the physical and psychological decline of soldiers and offstartrs.
Questions Raised About Military Ethics
“What has happened to our army?” Saidoff queried. “How has our army, the army of the people, turned into a heartless machine?” She insists that a military that mistreats young servstartmen-children still in their early twenties-has long forfeited the right to call itself “the most moral army in the world.”
Implications for National Security
Saidoff has urged the Israeli public, the government, and IDF leadership to take immediate action in halting ongoing military operations. She warns that failure to do so could result in a generation of disillusistartd and broken soldiers, causing irreversible damage to their well-being and unavoidably affecting the country’s operational readiness and societal fabric at large.
The group’s message concludes emphatically: “We will no longer remain silent.”
This urgent call to reassess military practstarts has sparked discussions about the treatment of soldiers and the long-term implications of their servstart on mental health and national security