Large numbers of Israelis were drafted into the Army when the October war started, leaving their families, their jobs, their businesses, in order to defend Israel, their homeland, against Hamas, in the worst and longest war Israel has fought.
There is one group in the Israeli population that has been ignoring the war, and using their political power, to demand, and obtain what they think is their civil right. The Ultra-Orthodox in Israel see the war as a nuisance that doesn’t concern them. The vast majority of them does not enlist in the army and thus also isn’t called up for reserve duty in times of war and they sit quietly in their Yeshivas with their noses in their books.
Their political leaders are busy with their own issues and also do not seem to be even aware that a war is going on in Israel. And the fact that a controversial draft law, which would force many of their followers to be drafted, but has been stuck in dirty politics for years is now a threat to them, only makes it more visible how their blatantly dirty political games prevent the State of Israel to do what should have been done long ago: to create equality for all its population and force the Ultra-Orthodox to be drafted.
The orthodox have been extremely busy preventing the draft law to be moved forward and they are not willing to compromise even a little on this, no matter what the Israeli Supreme Court decides on the matter. (The court ruled that the continuous postponement of the law is illegal and that if a law is not passed by April, all arrangements regarding the draft are invalid, and Ultra-Orthodox need to be drafted like anyone else).
One aspect that worries the Ultra-Orthodox a lot has to do with money. The institutions of the Ultra-Orthodox, including Yeshivas, where many of the youngsters who should go to the army spend their time to “study”, are funded by the State, but this funding will be stopped if they according to the existing rules, do not make their “students” go to the army. Since this funding amounts to Billions of shekels yearly and includes livelihood stipends for thousands of Yeshiva Students, frantic attempts are being made to circumvent the law. And the Ultra-Orthodox found a willing and helpful partner in this endeavor in the Israeli Finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich. He plans to submit a law to the Knesset (which will almost certainly be passed otherwise the coalition will fall) to circumvent the Supreme Court ruling and will allow the transfer of billions of shekels. It is uncertain that this ploy will work, even within the Likud there was hurt some hesitant opposition to such a step, but the political power of the Ultra-Orthodox is such that they will come up with other ways to extract the money from the State, or else……
In addition to the money, of course the (rather weak) threat that at some stage the Yeshiva students will be drafted is something that they will use any means to prevent. And here the Israeli Chief Sephardic Rabbi has outdone himself in the outraging statements that he is know for. During a lecture on Saturday, he threatened that the Haredim will leave the country en masse if they are to be drafted. He claims the fact that the Israeli Army is winning is because of the Torah and the Torah study of his pupils and a draft law will have all of them move abroad. Many would claim that this would be a blessing for Israel, but a simple analysis of the situation will show that the threat, even if scandalous, is also empty.
The threat is made by an Israeli government employee who earns NIS 45, 000 a month (from our taxes) while if he would be going abroad, nobody would look at him twice. His Yeshiva students, today are being fully sponsored by the State of Israel but abroad they would have to dirty their hands and nobody would give them the time of day if they don’t work for it. Thus, even if the threat is scandalous and a State employee like Yosef should be thrown into the streets for making it, it also is obvious and clear that it is an empty threat, meant to rattle our stupid politicians and force their hand, but (unfortunately) nobody will leave paradise for the real world.
This whole episode makes one thing very clear though: The power of religion on the State of Israel is rapidly approaching disastrous and is affecting the existence of the Democratic State as we know it. Religion should be removed from politics and while it cannot be prevented that large numbers of youngsters waste their lives with their noses in books that they probably will never understand, they should be allowed to do so, but not as a result become exempted from their basic civil duties and be drafted like anyone else.
I hope you found this article interesting and I welcome any comments you may have.
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