Wearing a uniform with pride
Ehud Barak right to declare war on growing number of draft dodgers
Better late than never, an Israeli leader rose up Monday evening and settled scores with "half the population," as he put it. Half a population of draft-dodging parasites who send the other half, the "suckers," to waste three years of their lives on climbing mountains and protecting Israel's civilian population.
Ehud Barak, in the capacity of defense minister, rose up Monday evening and declared war – at least it should be hoped – on the many, way too many, who did not serve and are not serving in the IDF, on the backs of those in uniform.
Barak is well aware of it, and if heaven forbid he is not, he should be told: His war on draft dodgers should take top priority. Draft-dodging is a cancerous growth gnawing away at the very foundations of Israeli society, as a nation and as a state. It is tearing the people apart and when war breaks out the army's commander in chief may find himself at a total loss.
Ultimately, an assault on fire-spitting enemy outposts contradicts the nature of man and real combatants require a special mental capacity to rise up and take action. Combatants who would risk their lives while the other half of the population "gives them the finger" are yet to be born.
At this time, it is important that the defense minister and other leaders end the phase of declarations and take action: Those who cannot serve for legitimate reasons must perform national service. Those who knowingly dodge the draft should sit behind lock and key instead of appearing on TV as second-rate singers.
Revive old values
From now on, the human resources division should scan its computers and retrieve the list of thousands of names of draft dodgers who should be made to undergo medical examinations. If they do not wish to serve, they will be handed a prison uniform and forced to sit out months in jail under the supervision of the military police. If it is still impossible to enlist them after this, we'll close the universities and TV screens to singers who sing of the bravado of the IDF while they themselves did not want and still do not want to serve their country.
Yet we must all be aware that a real cure doesn't take instant effect. It is a long drawn-out process of education instilled at home and within the educational institutions whereby old values such as the pride of donning a uniform must be reinstated, while draft dodgers become weary of walking the streets.
"Indeed, half the population," lamented renowned Hebrew poet Haim Nahman Bialik in an address at the first Hebrew teachers' convention in Odessa almost 100 years before Ehud Barak. Obviously, he had no idea that his words would be so fitting in the days of July-August 2007.
