Let the wealthy serve
A state that alienates most citizens should not expect them to perform military service
Recently we are hearing growing calls to fight increasing draft dodging by Israeli youth. Military officials, public figures, and the shapers of public opinion slam the chutzpah of those who choose not to devote two to three years of their lives to the military establishment tasked with safeguarding our national security.
After years of ignoring reality and granting service exemptions on the basis of race (to Arabs) and chauvinism (to women), as well as hypocrisy vis-à-vis yeshiva students, our leaders realized that just like any other resource that is fully exploited, youth belonging to the secular or religious-national sector are no longer in their pocket.
The public attack is accompanied with an anti-draft dodging campaign in the media and ads by “concerned citizens” who condemn dodging.
Yet what is this dodging we are talking about? Do the ads condemn those who smuggle their wealth out of Israel and dodge taxes? Do these ads condemn the investment made by wealthy Israelis in India, while Israel is desperate for more jobs? Do the ads condemn those who dodge taxes for dumping waste or those who dodge the duty to treat their employees fairly and grant them their rights? No. The ads only condemn those who prefer not to risk their lives to defend a country that has neglected their socioeconomic wellbeing in favor of a wild neo-liberal heaven.
There is something very sad about the naiveté of those behind the ads and about their exaggerated patriotic passion. In a society that sanctifies individualism and egotism, one must be very naïve in order to invest money in turning to the dodgers’ national feeling. In a society where solidarity is a derogatory term and wealthy thieves are a subject for admiration, one should not be expecting more than cold calculations in the face of military service.
In a country that teaches its citizens that their welfare is not at the top of its agenda, but rather, only “economic growth,” an abstract term that aims to cover up the impoverishment of the general public and the growing wealth of capitalists, it is hard to expect young people who feel alienated from the country to rush to contribute to it.
Meaningless slogans
For 60 years, the State of Israel chose to base its military on non-Orthodox Jewish men. The Arabs and ultra-Orthodox remained outside the fence, most of the time along with the women. There is no reason to be surprised that today we have more Arabs and Orthodox, and that women make up 50% of the population. The State deprived the middle class, which was and still is a sector made up of non-Orthodox Jews. As a result, members of this middle class reduced the number of children they produce and even started doing it at a later age.
In the mid 1980s, the middle class discovered that national solidarity slogans are meaningless and its youth are no longer willing to sacrifice more than ultra-Orthodox or Arab youth.
We cannot expect that slogans and reprimands will prompt the young people of this country to sacrifice their lives in the military, while they see the wealthy of this country refusing to sacrifice a little of their wealth for the sake of fair taxation that would enable all citizens to enjoy a reasonable standard of living.
One cannot expect that in a society that emphasizes the sanctity of individualism and elimination of social solidarity in the name of the right of a privileged minority to get rich, the masses will be rushing to serve in the army.
I perform more than 30 days of military reserve service per year, but I have no qualms with those who are unwilling to join the army. A country that wishes to see willingness to enlist should give its citizens a reason to do so. Today, the State of Israel alienates most of its citizens and only serves the wealthy. Therefore, it would be proper that it ask the wealthy to serve in its army.
Gilad Natan serves as staff sergeant in a reserve combat unit
