Benjamin Netanyahu's most blindly devoted supporters are walking around in a state of panic these days. They are terrified by the possibility that their master might not remain in power forever, and they are beside themselves. One of their coping mechanisms, part of their desperate attempt to hold back the tide, is a new campaign claiming that the outcry from reservists and their families over the crushing burden of service and the critical need for equal military obligations was nothing more than a cynical political exercise designed solely to bring down Netanyahu's government.
So let's make something clear. Those now dismissing the reservists' outcry as political and cynical have two things in common: They have never experienced that hardship themselves, and they are acting out of political panic.
Reservists serving in the field
(Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
Unlike the male and female reservists sent to the front lines, and to support positions behind them, with too few people facing far too many missions and unlike the spouses of those reservists, who were left alone on a home front that had itself become a front line, managing family life single-handedly for hundreds of days, through summer and winter, ordinary workdays and school vacations, most participants in this pro-Netanyahu campaign have not spent even a single day away from home.
For the most part, these are television studio regulars or professional idlers who are somehow registered as yeshiva students. They did not lift a finger when we were in desperate trouble, and now they are trying to use our suffering for political gain.
The most outstanding examples are the panelists on Channel 14's "The Patriots." This group embodies the widest possible gap between aggressive rhetoric, tough-guy posturing and any actual contribution to the war effort.
Sitting in that studio is a collection of people who are more eager than anyone to deploy the army on every possible front, yet make no effort to mobilize themselves. All are of an age at which reserve service is possible. They talk endlessly about the need to hold firm on every front, never ease up and never surrender.
They loudly explain why Israel must remain on the Yellow Line in the Gaza Strip without compromise, why it must use an iron fist in the West Bank and maintain a forceful military presence in Syria and Lebanon. Yet they offer no solution to the manpower problem that would make any of this possible, nor do they lift a finger to contribute to that essential effort themselves.
They produce "total victory" merchandise and shout themselves hoarse about how important it is to strike, crush and flatten the enemy. But they have never bothered to get off their own backsides. When it comes to action, perhaps one or two of the panelists actually served in the reserves during the war. When it comes to talking, they seem to consider themselves a level above the IDF General Staff.
Those now dismissing the reservists' outcry as political and cynical have two things in common: They have never experienced that hardship themselves, and they are acting out of political panic
At the same time, for political reasons, they are fighting tooth and nail to exempt more than 100,000 young, healthy Haredi men from military service, tens of thousands of whom do not even study in yeshivas.
And now, once again, as the terrifying prospect of power passing out of Netanyahu's hands looms before them, they claim the entire reservist protest was a fabrication.
In fact, they predicted this would happen. Several months ago, the same studio panelists began forecasting that the moment the elections ended, Gadi Eisenkot would approach the Haredi parties, hand them a blank sheet of paper with his signature at the bottom and give them whatever they wanted in exchange for helping him form a government.
Not that anything of the sort has happened since. But reality has never stopped "The Patriots" from inventing a future scenario and then, when the future arrives, shouting that they were right, even when the scenario they predicted has not actually materialized.
So let's make something clear to everyone: both to Netanyahu's loyalists, and Eisenkot's supporters too, should any of them be entertaining different plans.
The conscription bill Boaz Bismuth tried to advance was a disgrace. In fact, it thoroughly deserves to be called the "draft evasion law," because in numerical terms it would enlist far fewer people than it would help avoid military service.
To understand the proportions, consider a conversation I had this week with someone very close to Shas chairman Aryeh Deri. We discussed the conscription law, and he proposed exempting anyone who genuinely studies in a yeshiva for at least eight hours a day. Everyone else, he said, should enlist.
I asked him how many of those receiving exemptions actually meet that standard, meaning they are registered at a yeshiva and genuinely study there seriously for eight hours a day. His answer, coming from a Haredi man at the very heart of the Shas establishment, was 50%.
Think about that. There are more than 100,000 Haredi men of military age. If 50% of them enlisted tomorrow, the IDF would collapse under the weight of too much manpower.
Now, it is entirely possible that some commentators amplified the reservists' outcry because of their hostility toward Netanyahu. It is also possible that these same people are now adopting a conciliatory tone toward the Haredi parties, seeking a coalition alliance and offering to sell out the reservists in return.
If such people exist, they were never an authentic part of the struggle waged by reservists and their families.
But let's assume those voices really do exist, hypocritical and contemptible as they may be. Does that mean we did not serve hundreds of days? Does it mean we did not place our wives under an almost unbearable practical and emotional burden? Does it mean the IDF is not sounding the alarm in every possible way that it desperately needs more personnel?
The test is simple and has two parts. First, any conscription law more lenient than Boaz Bismuth's disgraceful proposal would amount to surrendering to the Haredi parties and selling out the reservists. If an Eisenkot-led coalition gives the Haredim a law that compromises even further than Bismuth's proposal, then it will be fair to say that the reservists were cynically exploited.
The second test, and the more important one, is the military's actual needs. The person who should be in the room when the legislation is drafted is the IDF chief of staff, or at the very least the head of the Personnel Directorate and the officers responsible for manpower planning.
Not long ago, in March of this year, IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir raised 10 red flags, warning that the military urgently needed approximately 15,000 additional soldiers. That requirement may have increased since then. Alternatively, it may have declined somewhat.
Stop making political deals among yourselves over the military's head. Let the IDF explain what it needs to provide security for the State of Israel. Let it specify how much additional manpower is required to ease the enormous burden placed on reservists, and write those requirements into law.
Separate Israel's security from your political interests. Give the IDF what it needs to win, for real, not just in speeches. Give it the tools to do its job. And then we'll see when you yourselves finally contribute a few days of reserve service.