Iky Elner
Damn the collaborators
Iky Elner slams politicians, rabbis who contribute to growing draft-dodging phenomenon
The IDF’s Personnel Directorate Chief, Major General Avi Zamir, has just released the army’s draft-dodging figures. Those who wish to continue ignoring the expected disaster as result of this phenomenon may skip this column. Yet in my view, the silence and disregard to the issue constitute collaboration with this ongoing social, Zionist, and moralistic crime.
The figures are frightening: The enlistment rate for 2008 stood at 72% of Jewish males and 54% of females. Major General Zamir especially condemned the female draft-dodging – 38% of it on religious grounds. He said that soon the figure will reach 50%. At the current rate, Zamir predicts that the overall draft-dodging rate will hit 40% in the coming decade.
The time has come to utter the truth about the people who facilitate and encourage this phenomenon, and even entrench it by law. I personally feel like spitting in the faces of all the guilty parties.
Cause for Concern
Shmulik Hadad
Army's Personnel Directorate chief says number of Jewish youths evading military service may reach 40% over next decade
Forty percent of people who do not serve in the army is not just a number. The clear implication is that soon there will be no one to protect me or you. And who should we blame for this? The answer is clear: We should blame ourselves, for keeping silent.
Damned are the people who are directly responsible for draft-dodging. They contribute to the state’s destruction with their own hands; the very state that was established through great effort and sacrifice of life. These people, who refer to themselves as leaders, elected officials, and rabbis, who initiate, accept, and encourage draft-dodging. At the moment of truth we shall remember that these are the people who made an effort to absolve tens of thousands of people from their basic right to defend their home.
A total of 63 Knesset members voted about two weeks ago against a bill that merely demands women who seek an exemption on religious grounds to prove that they studied in a religious institution for two years before enlistment. By doing so, these Knesset members openly and despicably encouraged the lies, lowly morality, inequality, and trampling of Zionism, just in order to appease their ultra-Orthodox coalition partners.
I was not shocked when it turned out that Defense Minister Ehud Barak also objected to the bill. When one’s behind reaches a government chair, even the most decorated commander in the IDF’s history forgets his past. He should be condemned along with all the Knesset members, ministers, and prime minister who joined forces to thwart the bill.
The role of TV stars
These people join the dozens of Knesset members who approved ongoing haredi draft-dodging in 2000 when they approved the Tal Law (under the leadership of then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak,) as well as the dozens of Knesset members who validated the law in July 2007, with the approval of then-defense minister (yes, indeed, Ehud Barak.) Back then, just like in the vote on exemption for females, even the most prominent members of the so-called “National Camp” endorsed ongoing draft-dodging.
However, this phenomenon spread from the haredi world to other Israeli population groups a long time ago. Alongside the politicians and rabbis, we must not forget the worshippers of cash in the entertainment and televisions industry. The list of stars who never served in the army is long.
These people enjoy the status of stars in a world that brings millions into the pockets of their employers, the heads of television and production companies who cynically sell off our values for the sake of their wealth. They create here a culture that not only accepts draft-dodgers with “understanding,” but also sells them as cultural icons. Their very work promotes draft-dodging, as millions of young viewers learn to accept this phenomenon as normal and even positive. They too play a major role in the journey to destroy the State of Israel. They too should be damned.
At this time it is said that young people wish to live their lives independently, develop their unique traits, and not define themselves based on army ranks and a homogenous pattern. Indeed, the educational vacuum and intellectual impasse among our leaders, military chiefs, and top educators also contributed to the situation. Yet I do not see a contradiction between my own worldview, which endorses as much freedom of choice as possible for citizens, and the duty to serve in the IDF.
Precisely because of this, beyond the positive chaos that a civil society allows, we must maintain a sacred common denominator that is morally noble; a common denominator that is not detached from reality; one that is premised on the fact that in order to enable our physical existence as a state, we need an army to protect us.
One day, when the draft-dodging boundaries will be completely breached and the army will have trouble enlisting even the minimum requirement for Israel’s defense, remember all those damned individuals.
Iky Elner is the director of the Israel Leadership Institute
