The recent massive Haredi anti-draft demonstration revealed Israel’s Achilles heel. Tens of thousands of ultra-religious Israelis refuse to be drafted, leaving those who have been drafted, reservists serving significantly long deployments and their families, feeling that they are suckers.
If Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were to forcibly draft members of the ultra-religious community, he’d lose his Haredi coalition partners and his Knesset majority. Those who serve feel like patsies when they put their lives and limbs in danger.
As a famous Jew once said, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.”
I fear that this internal Israeli struggle will have far more serious consequences than anything that Hamas, Iran, or Israel’s other enemies can do to Israel.
-Paul L. Newman, Merion Station