This week, Knesset member Yitzhak Goldknopf compared proposed sanctions on draft refusers to the wearing of a yellow star. Although his historical reference invoked the Holocaust, the practice of marking and stigmatizing Jews stretches back centuries. In Goldknopf’s modern framing, it was tied to stripping benefits from ultra‑Orthodox Israelis who do not serve in the IDF. The ensuing condemnation was swift and widespread: he was labeled “detached” and “insensitive,” covered intensively by the media, and criticized by civil society groups.
But focusing solely on the extremity of his words misses the deeper issue. Goldknopf may not be detached at all. His remarks are shocking—but the question that should have been asked is why he spoke that way in the first place. And once that is the focus, it becomes clear that his mindset and the sense of entitlement he expresses did not arise in a vacuum. They are fueled by the very society that grants special status to the exemptions he defends.
The best proof of this is Israel’s lived reality over the past two years. While the IDF is desperate for personnel and enemies rejuvenate their arsenals, Israel continues to exempt tens of thousands from service. As countless families lose sleep, others remain oblivious to the costs of ongoing security needs. At a time when many struggle economically, vast budgets continue to flow without real scrutiny.
In such a reality, what message does someone like Goldknopf absorb? Is he really “insensitive,” or simply reflecting what he has been conditioned to see?
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A yellow star of David badge and a Jewish prisoner uniform
(Photo: Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock)
Moments before the shocking Holocaust comparison, Goldknopf asked a question: “In what country do you take a rabbi and put him where the security guards stand?” On its face it may sound rhetorical, but it signals something deeper about Israeli society: the division between those who learn and those who serve, between those who do the work and those who enable the conditions for it. In a world where membership in the “learners’ class” is an outcome of strict religious identity rather than scholarly achievement, draft exemption in the Haredi leadership is seen as an automatic vested right—not an exception meriting justification.
One can recoil at the yellow star phrasing—but it is a symptom, not the root problem. Goldknopf isn’t actually disconnected; his worldview aligns with what the state has signaled to him: that he and those he represents occupy a special status that the country will accommodate even in tragedy. Detached are those who ignore the circumstances that encourage this: the endless accommodations, even after the massacre, the permanent deferments under the banner of tradition and identity. Detached is someone who focuses only on clumsy language and not on what produced it.
Gadi EzraPhoto: Avigail UziIsrael must fund the preservation of Jewish identity—this is part of who we are. But that cannot continue through wholesale exemptions. Not even for “those who truly learn.” Historically, such exemptions opened the door to distortions, and it is unreasonable to let exemption seekers decide for themselves who merits exemption.
Service must be the default for everyone. Those who can demonstrate exceptional study or achievement should receive full support under clear criteria. Otherwise, the label “detached” will continue to stick—and what will truly become detached is the identity of the state itself.