by Hillel Fendel, editor, author and translator.
With
all the various crises of varying degrees of importance taking place in the
world today –Russia/Ukraine, riots in LA, Israel's naval attack on Yemen, even
Trump/Musk – there is one that is liable to have critically negative effects on
the future of the State of Israel, militarily, sociologically, and religiously.
I am referring to the threats by the hareidi parties to either quit the government
coalition headed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, or to bring about the
dissolution of the Knesset – and thus, either way, bring about new elections.
The
issue for them is the ongoing steps being taken by the courts and the IDF towards
a wholescale draft of every last yeshiva student. The hareidi parties therefore
demand clear legislation that will regulate how many actually have to be
drafted and what sanctions – the lighter, the better – will be emplaced upon
those who refuse. If a formulation is not found by this week, they say, they
will either quit the coalition, or vote no-confidence in the government. Both,
as stated, will lead to the same tragic result.
Whether
the government falls via the first route, which would be quicker and more
abrupt, or by the second, which could take weeks if not months, the cataclysmic
effects could be very similar: Total government paralysis, meaning an end to
the war in Gaza with our arch-enemy Hamas still in power and the hostages still
under its torturous control, and an ensuing election victory for the
center-left. [The only major arena which might not be affected, ironically,
might be the Iranian; as Minister Amichai Eliyahu said today, "An attack
in Iran is closer than new elections."]
Even
if in the short term the new government comes towards the hareidim in terms of
the draft, it will most certainly have an anti-religious and anti-nationalist bent,
seeking to render the State of Israel just another modern, non-traditional,
secular country.
Given
the determination of the hareidi parties to bring down the government unless
their basic position is accepted – or unless they wake up to their
responsibility towards the entire country beyond the undeniable importance of
their Torah study – the keys appear to be in the hands of Knesset Defense
Committee Chairman Yuli Edelstein of the Likud. He is essentially on the side
of those who favor coercive measures to draft hareidim, and so far has insisted
on severe sanctions for those who do not answer the call.
Another
major issue of contention is whether a quota of Torah scholars will be required
to enlist, or rather just a percentage of all the draft-age hareidim in
general. The hareidi parties demand the latter, of course, and Edelstein has reportedly
already agreed. However, at the same time, the Attorney-General's office has already
intimated that it would consider such an agreement to be unlawful.
The
longed-for compromise will be achieved only if both of the battling coalition
partners – the Likud, currently represented by Edelstein, and the hareidim –
realize the magnitude of what is at stake, and show both responsibility and
flexibility. Assuming that Edelstein has done so with the above quota
compromise, the hareidim would do well to find the way to agree among
themselves – this is not guaranteed… – how those who are not studying Torah
would be drafted.
As
Besheva editor Emanuel Shilo has written, "The hareidim must show good
will and readiness to share the security burden, at least in terms of the young
men who are not really studying Torah with great zeal, of which there are
thousands. The army would be smart to establish appropriate frameworks for
their military service, which would even strengthen their hareidi
identity." Others say that such frameworks already exist, such as the
Netzach Yehuda units – which include two years of active service and then a
year of professional or matriculation studies.
And
where does the religious-Zionist public - whose sons have borne the brunt of
the casualties, proportionately, in the current war - fit in? Voices have been
heard on both sides, from those who wish to support Torah study in the State of
Israel, to those who wish to see the hareidi public be drafted just as other
Israelis. Again, to quote Shilo:
"The
religious-Zionist must correctly formulate its priorities. There are those who
are acting with political motivations and are interested in toppling the
government above all. But those who truly wish to see justice done and have the
military burden shared more equally must ask themselves if that goal is more
important than actual military victory – which would basically be unachievable
if the Knesset is dissolved and new elections are called. After having paid so
many heavy prices during this war, we must realize that ending the war with
Hamas still standing will be many times worse than having some more patience
with the hareidi public as it figures out and becomes accustomed to its place
in sharing in the war effort."
With
the final deadline apparently arriving this Wednesday, Besheva and Kan 11
columnist Zev Kam writes that we essentially gained a week, due to the
sleepiness of the opposition in the Knesset:
"If
the opposition had been on the ball last week, it would have succeeded already then
in passing a preliminary reading of the bill to dissolve the Knesset. Coalition
chairman MK Ophir Katz (Likud) was walking around the Knesset last Tuesday with
one fear: that the opposition would suddenly bring up for a vote one of its
proposals of no-confidence in the government. For if so, it would have passed.
This is because the hareidim had already agreed among themselves not to vote
against it, and some of them would even have voted in favor. But the opposition
had no clue that the hareidim had reached that point – and when it finally
found out, it was too late."
[Keep
in mind that no-confidence motions can only be proposed on Wednesdays, and they
must have been tabled the previous Tuesday afternoon.]
We can only hope that by the time these words are read,
an agreed-upon solution has been found, and Israel can continue to battle its
many external enemies without bickering within.