What happened last night was a betrayal. A betrayal of those who serve, a betrayal of Zionism, a betrayal of the Torah of Israel.
That vote, in favor of privileges for draft dodgers, against sanctions and in support of a law that disgraces the Torah, was a betrayal.
(Photo: Yair Sagi, Reuven Castro, Amit Shabi, AFP, Alex Kolomoisky, Yoav Dudkevitch, AP)
I do not use that word lightly. But you have heard all of this before. We cried out about it. We warned about it. We spoke about it again and again.
Israel’s elected representatives voted yesterday against the State of Israel, not because they failed to understand that this was a betrayal, but despite understanding it perfectly well.
The secret of Israeli society, the secret of the Zionist miracle, has always rested on the defining story we tell ourselves: a story of solidarity and sacrifice.
There has always been corruption here. Politicians have always pursued power. But no one ever dared stand in public and declare that, in the name of power and corruption alone, they were prepared to sacrifice the most sacred principle of all: the Jewish responsibility for the lives of our brothers and sisters, the covenant among those who serve and the solidarity owed to those who gave their lives.
What this coalition did yesterday was an attempt to dismantle the most basic DNA of the Zionist miracle.
It was an attempt to turn us into a nation of scoundrels, a nation in which everyone chases power, money and honor while trying to escape responsibility.
What they did yesterday was turn those who serve into slaves. They took sacred sacrifice, the blood, sweat, fear and bereavement, and transformed it into cynical exploitation.
They will tell themselves stories. They will try to sell those stories to us as well. But it is all vanity and deception.
Will there be a price for this betrayal?
The honest answer is that I do not know.
I do not know because, since the beginning of time, there have been wicked people who prosper.
But I do know that this was a betrayal by those who sent us to the battlefield and then stripped us of our dignity, our sacrifice and our most fundamental values.
As far as I am concerned, from this moment onward, every lawmaker who raised a hand in favor of this law bears the mark of Cain on his forehead, a mark of eternal disgrace.
I will do everything in my power, and I believe many Israelis will do the same, to ensure that at least in the public and political arena, this knife in the back does not pass in silence.
The people of Israel are a people who choose life. In the long run, they will not accept this kind of national suicide.
We will not forget.
We will not forgive.