A Different View on Israel

Draft Evasion and ”equality Under the Law”

After two years of war and tensions both in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon still very high, many reservists are still in the army with many having served many months already. While it is lawful for the IDF to call up reservists in time of war or dangerous periods, it does put a heavy burden on small business owners, who see their business being destroyed, their families under high strain, with their children having difficulty to cope with their father’s prolonged absence.

With the exception of one apparently privileged group of Israelis, who, while thousands of soldiers are doing long reserve duty, are happily home with their families and “study”. The Ultra-Orthodox community has always enjoyed the fact that their sons are exempt for military service even in times of war and are going ahead with their studies while their non-orthodox peers (both religious and secular) risk their lives protecting their country.

The Haredi exemption has always been a source of discomfort and in times of war, this is exacerbated. But at this point, the ultra-orthodox parties hold the government of Binyamin Netanyahu at a very short leash, and without their support, the slim majority the government holds will be lost, causing the government to fall and elections will be called.

Netanyahu has gone to great lengths holding together this majority (with his criminal trial as the main incentive) and this means that he will need to appease the Ultra-Orthodox by any means possible.  After the chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Yuli Edelstein was removed because he could not produce a Draft Law that satisfied the Ultra-Orthodox, his place was taken up by Boaz Bismuth and he presented the Committee with a version of the Law that the religious leaders could agree to, at least for starters, and this bill is currently being discussed.

The bill quickly became known as the “Draft Evasion bill  where Haredi men are largely exempt from Army service or have many options to fit in the “exemptions” that the bill includes.

While the Army is in urgent need of twelve thousand recruits and sent out fifty three thousand draft notices this year, only seven hundred Haredi men responded and they arrested four hundred twenty five draft evaders. (who were mostly quickly released).

Politicians were quick to take the opportunity to bash the Netanyahu government, with former Prime Minister Bennett calling the Bill “is the most anti-Zionist law ever legislated in the history of the country” and is in fact a “declaration of war against every soldier and reservist”. It will require every reservist to do one hundred to one hundred and twenty days of army service from now on.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid went as far as declaring that no army service means no voting rights, which is far from the Democratic principles that he stands for and surely would never pass the High court of Justice.

Of course, this would in principle also apply to the Arab citizens in Israel, most of whom do not serve in the army, but the reasons for that do not fall under Lapid’s misleading rhetoric.

It is of little use to go in depth into the “so-called justifications” of Bismuth and his Bill because there is no doubt that if the Haredim feel that Netanyahu will fold, their demands will only increase. And we will end up with hardly any Haredi men enlisting, while keeping the privileges that they already enjoy such as subsidies on housing, child care and tax credits.

While this may be considered another nail in the coffin of Israeli democracy, this will be a very big nail because “equality under the Law” is a very basic value of democracy and it cannot and may not be ignored by anybody whose principles are single-handedly stepped aside by Netanyahu and his yes-men.

 I hope you found this article interesting and I welcome any comments you may have.

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