Headlines, Human Rights, Middle East & North Africa

MIDEAST: Israeli Army Battles New Dangers Within

Pierre Klochendler

JERUSALEM, Feb 3 2011 (IPS) - They chant, “One people, one draft!” They raise the flag of unified, across-the- board army enlistment – students and veterans wearing scars of past wars from a few dozen mainstream Zionist civil society organisations and youth movements.

As the Egyptian army was coming under mounting scrutiny, in Israel, for three days last week, much like soldiers on a forced march, hundreds have carried stretchers, a symbol of the burden of national service – burden that’s becoming heavier and heavier – on a 50-km protest march throughout the country from the main recruitment centre to the Prime Minister’s house.

“We can no longer continue this way in which too few are carrying the stretcher of national duty that too many are lying on,” says Ori, 18. “The burden must be shared more equally!”

They protest against a societal trend which many here view as a threat to national security. “The more people are exempt from national duty, the lesser our capability to defend ourselves,” bemoans Avraham, a veteran. “Soon we’ll be left without an army,” is a dire prediction echoed by many here.

A speaker harangues his troops: “One nation, one destiny! So long as there is war, everyone of drafting age must be drafted!” The demonstrators answer in unison: “Bust the draft dodgers!”

Meanwhile, the draft dodgers continue to raise the banner of deferment. A few kilometres away across town, a religious student enters the local recruitment office, holding a letter from his religious seminary. Within ten minutes, he is free.

“I received an exemption from military service because I study the Torah (Holy Scriptures). We too protect the state when we study,” says the student who prefers to remain anonymous.

Army service is compulsory in Israel. At 18, Israelis are called up. Men do a three-year stint, women two years. Then, men, and also some women, perform reserve duty. That makes five years or so of one’s life in uniform. But, this principle is constantly tested by reality.

For instance, most Palestinian citizens – one in five Israelis – are exempt. Their state still at war with some Arab countries, their loyalty would be put to the test. Besides, most Palestinian Israelis would fight back, exposing another weak flank of society. “We’ll share equal duties when you give us our equal rights,” is the retort.

For reasons of conscience, some Jewish Israelis refuse to join the army, or to serve in the Palestinian occupied territories. But, they’re insignificant – at least in numbers.

Then, there’s the “me first” generation, young Israelis who trust their country is strong enough with or without them that they can evade giving the best years of their lives to the defence of the homeland.

Finally, there is the customary exception to the rule, the Haredim, those who tremble in awe of God as they call themselves, ultra-orthodox Jews who are largely excused from military service. The rationale is as follows: “If no one will study the Bible, the army will be worth nothing spiritually. Studying is our obligation,” says Eliezer, a religious student.

The exemption is as old as the state. At the time of Israel’s creation, in order to cement national cohesion, David Ben Gourion, the founding leader of the state, agreed on a political arrangement with the religious parties called the “status quo” whereby the Jewish state would guarantee them a special religious role in regulating important matters of life, such as birth, marriage, divorce, death.

This arrangement which, with the passing of time, has become a source of deep tension between secular and religious Jews, included the compulsory duty exemption.

In 1948, 400 religious scholars benefited from the special religious waiver. Today, they are 50,000, 12 percent of the draft-age youth. About 35 percent of women receive army exemption under the same waiver.

“If there were more people studying than soldiers, of course I’d be the first one to join the army and to tell my friends to join me,” says Eliahu, another exempted student.

Good intention aside, Lt. Gen. Gaby Ashkenazy, the outgoing Chief-of-Staff, recently warned that within a decade only half of Israeli youth will enlist. Draft dodgers excused by their religious studies will then constitute 25 percent of the draft-age manpower.

From an army of the people, the Israeli military is fast becoming an army of only part of the people.

Oren, a twelfth-grader who came to demonstrate with his father, says “this system of exemptions is a systematic shirking of duty by a large segment of society to serve in the army.”

Past attempts at revising this draft “status quo” have largely failed. Only a few hundred ultra-orthodox Jews choose to ‘convert’ their sense of mission from religious to national, to keep the Bible but also to take the gun, and to serve God by serving three years for the defence of the Jewish State.

“Military service,” Ashkenazi said to a forum of draft-age youth, “should be a duty – not an obligation – shared by all citizens irrespective of their religion or ethnicity. The army should be allowed to select the best-fit. Exempted groups would perform civil service in their respective communities.” The proposal is sound, but difficult to implement.

Demography is the key. Their constituency growing, religious parties have over the years become influential. It’s no wonder then that politics is stronger than Israel’s military might, coalitions more powerful than the great national unifier – especially when coalitions, such as that of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, depend heavily on its ultra-orthodox component.

“Though we draw encouragement from the people, this is only a small demonstration in a long and difficult struggle,” acknowledges Miri Brown, one of the protest organisers.

At this pace, the demonstrators predict, their nation will soon be facing a strategic threat not just from without, but from within. “The statistics speak for themselves,” says Eitan, a reserve officer. “It’s no longer a question of morality and discrimination but of national survival. We can close up shop. There’s nothing left, only doom and perdition! We must come to our senses now or never!”

That is, lest the tug-of-war between seculars and ultra-religious dodgers spills over into an all-out cultural war. Eitan carries a placard that reads, “No mobilization, no reconciliation!” “Otherwise, there will be a civil war,” he warns.