Chairman of the 'Jewish Home' party, former Knesset member Moshe Feiglin – whose grandson fell in battle in Gaza – addresses the issue of drafting the ultra-Orthodox, and says he is pained to see his brothers from the religious Zionism being dragged into a war against the ultra-Orthodox community.
The full post of Moshe Feiglin:
It's clear that the ultra-Orthodox need to enlist. The challenge of recruiting the Haredim is not new. It has accompanied Israeli society since its inception. However, this is not a group that is afraid to volunteer or take risks. On the contrary. This is a community that leads in the number of organizations, volunteerism, and contributions to the public. Among kidney donors (for example), the national religious public leads by a huge margin, but right after them are the Haredim, whose place is not absent. Kidney donors from the secular public are a rare phenomenon.
It's not the fear for their lives or the avoidance of volunteering that makes it difficult for the Haredim to enlist. It is about the difficulty of integrating a Haredi lifestyle within a progressive, Yahalom-like IDF culture that has not managed to properly adapt to this challenge – and at the extremes, some even see the IDF as a kind of re-education camp. "We will already educate them" – Yair Golan. And after all that – yes. Everyone needs to enlist, including the ultra-Orthodox. The establishment of the Haredi division is definitely an important step in the right direction.
It's clear that the ultra-Orthodox need to enlist. And also the Tel Aviv residents, who, according to the Director General of the Ministry of Defense and former Northern Command General Udi Adam, "evade more than the Haredim." "There are more security service candidates who do not enlist for various reasons, compared to those who do not enlist for religious reasons," said the general in a meeting with the Netzach Yehuda organization (report by Yair Sherki, March 9, 2018).
But why are we talking about recruiting Haredim now? What suddenly made the topic so hot and explosive? At first glance, the answer seems simple – there's a war now, and there's a severe shortage of manpower. How can one see a father of ten children sacrificing himself in Lebanon, while a young Haredi avoids conscription?
But – does the argument that has just erupted advance the solution to the problem or delay it? Anyone who has genuinely and sincerely tried to promote solutions repeatedly testifies that this type of discussion pushes the ultra-Orthodox away from the gates of the IDF recruitment center rather than bringing them closer. Not the concern for Israel's security has brought this discussion to the forefront right now, when Israeli society is yearning for unifying discourse. It's not hard to see who the forces are juggling here in the public consciousness and rubbing their hands with glee when they succeed in inciting the heroes of Religious Zionism against the Haredi public.
At the military station, at the hands of Benyamini and Guetta, they will never ask how it happens that an Israeli Chief of Staff, earning more than 100,000 NIS a month (twice the Prime Minister's salary), to ensure that the soldiers at the Nahal Oz outpost maintain readiness at dawn on October 7 – is still managing the event – and not only was he not immediately dismissed from his position and a criminal investigation opened against him (as happens, for example, with an engineer who was negligent and a building under his responsibility collapsed), but he appoints his successors and he will decide when he will deign to leave his position.
On public broadcasting, during Aryeh Golan's regular morning propaganda, you will never hear questions like: Why did you dismantle the army's intelligence and cancel more than 6 maneuver divisions – and why aren't you going back now and recruiting the thousands of trained reservists who were sent home? They will never ask on (Israeli news) Channel 12 and Channel 13 why you left Rafah for last? Why didn't you capture the Philadelphia axis right at the start of the war?
The IDF has been floundering for over a year, bleeding its soldiers dry with repeated conquests and needing more and more manpower – not because of the ultra-Orthodox, but because of the concept that governs its senior officials. Want to know why the war is really dragging on and why we need more and more reserve days? Because the value of victory was erased from the ethical code adopted by the chiefs of staff. And when you don't win, the war doesn't end. And when the war doesn't end, peace doesn't begin. Just like that.
And this has nothing to do with the ultra-Orthodox. But the divide and conquer method works well. The Kaplanism that dominates the channels and consciousness will divert the discussion from where it truly belongs, separate and incite between the national religious and the ultra-Orthodox – and continue to rule. So yes – in principle, the ultra-Orthodox also have to enlist. But it is so sad to see my brothers, the heroes of glory, being dragged into this trap.