Because one is old,it does not mean useless.Time is often on one"s hands and if given the direction many would volunteer to help .Set up a programme for these volunteers,and watch out for the anticipated positive response !

was Avigdor Lieberman's (Yisrael Beiteinu) point before and during the last elections for the Knesset. That's what he meant when he said: "No national insurance without national service". Peres' latest statement is a recognition that the defining element in Israel is its military (IDF) and also his public agreement with Mr. Lieberman. The usual culprits, the Charedim, are actually joining the IDF now and are members of what is reputed to be a committed and ferocious fighting unit. This trend needs to accelerate. A second area involves the children of elites and the wealthy who have been able to get out of the IDF by acquiring private psychiatric and psychological assessments which have enabled them in their drives to remain outside the fold. There are no penalties attached to such a means of avoidance. These people need to have second assessments completed by IDF personnel before being allowed to stay outside the IDF and national service should be substituted in cases where they should legitemately remain outside the IDF. As to the large Palestinian Arabic population (as opposed to the Druse, Bedouin and Circassian, all who regularly volunteer for service), we cannot allow them into regular units as their loyalty to the state of Israel remains problematic. Nonetheless, they should be required to perform national service. Up until now, there are no such requirements.

myself, I would find it useful to complete some national serice provided I was some real use to my country.

Why should israelis serve in the idf when a man who became PM with support of the media and haber, did no combat himself and has sons who either averted the idf or protested the idf service in the west bank urging citizens not to serve.ZWhy should anyone serve when the elite of the country promote a lout to be PM, one who zero concept of each hill or valley;rather he is an expert on cuban cigars, montblanc pens, upscale hotel rooms and shmear and gelt. Dankner, barnea, ramon, haber, verter, benn, ought to jump off a cliff and rid of israel of cowards.

i made alia when i was 26, i made everything possible to get enlisted and they refuse me for obscure reasons so this talks dont worth a lot to me, nowadays you can avoid the army quite easily but it s way harder to get in

NEVER AGAIN to thefts like Gush Katif and Amona.

Boo there is a bear behind you! That is a well known policy of fear Nobody in Middleast is afraid of Iran, Iran did not kill thousands of Arab children in Gaza and Lebonan, Iran did not have any war with Syria, Egypt, Jordan but Israel did. Iran did not occupy Arab lands, but Israel did. Iran has no direct problem or contact with Israel, Iran only commits to give support to ARABIAN -MUSLIM PROBLEMS therefore waged war agains Zionism That is Israeli problems with arabs do not stem from Iran, but Iran's problem with Israel stems from Arab muslim confrontation with Israel.

The city with the lowest percentage of recruits is Tel-Aviv. Why don't the leftists get the same level of criticism as the Harridim?

When President Shimon Peres goes over the heads of the democratically elected Government of Israel to propose his own plan to world leaders he is also essentially saying that he has absolutely no respect for the democratic process. Unfortunately, it appears that none of the other international actors has indicated that this behaviour is in any way unacceptable. More about how politics work : http://xrl.us/bfe6mz

because you are so irrelevant. Just to clear matters up, the IDF is made up of individuals from all walks of life including, but not limited to, Druse, Bedouin and Ethioian Jews. The most prominent group are the children of the post-communist Russian immigrants. They are tough, committed and educated; many become officers. There are also many Sephardic Jews as well as an increasing number of Charedim whose backgrounds are from both the Ashkenazim and Sepharim elements of the Israeli population. In addition, amongst the finest of the Israeli military are the orthodox Zionists who reside in Judea and Samaria. So you see, Tayfun, your statement is pure "blatherskite", an old Irish term meaning you "talk too much and what you say is idiocy".

I saw many talkbacker like you who does not dare to read main text but immediatly hit return for a rush answer just reading headline As for my headline: What is missing in knowledge about IDF's composition? I certainly know there are jewish elements but as you say they are again Russian jews and some others Now take Israeli Government and compare composition of Israeli ruling classes and Army What do you see? Unpreviledged population sereves in Army but still not represented in political ruling You cannot go further with such kind of decay, slave armies left in the past In first important test confronted by IDF, you must be sure it will fail. Perhaps that is also an answer to an article here questioning why IDF is failing