Haredi soldiers' leisure activities get surprising upgrade: Computers with Internet connection have been installed in recent weeks at IDF posts in the Jenin area, where fighters of the Netzach Yehuda Battalion are stationed.

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Other battalions' posts, however, have yet to receive computers with Internet connection.

In the haredi battalion, the computers are available for the soldiers at times of rest between the operational activities. The computers include a content-control software preventing the fighters from accessing porn sites and blocking any immodest pictures.

Facebook and other social networks are accessible, however.





Fighter catching up on latest news (Photo: Yoav Zitun)

The battalion's fighters are also expected to receive reading books for their posts' libraries, which currently only offer Jewish religious literature, and their gyms are slated to be renovated.

The new computers were installed near televisions in the posts' clubs, which are restricted to five channels only. IDF officials have stressed that these rules apply to all soldiers' clubs, where sexual content is banned. The clubs are closed on Shabbat, by the way.

The Netzach Yehuda Battalion, considered one of the Israeli army's biggest infantry regiments, has recently began using special halogen lamps in its communication systems, which prevent the desecration of Shabbat, save on electricity and last longer.

The battalion takes in national-religious soldiers, members of hesder yeshivot, volunteers from abroad and haredim discharged from regular yeshivot as part of the Tal Law.

The soldiers enlist for two years of military service, and use the third year to acquire a profession within the army or complete their matriculation exams.

The battalion's first company was launched in 1999 with 32 fighters, and their number has been growing every year – with some 450 soldiers joining in the past year.

In order to provide the soldiers with the appropriate lifestyle, they receive strictly kosher food and women are excluded from their posts. The battalion's rabbi answers any halachic question, and when it comes to operational issues – the answer is given after the consulting the regiment commander.