Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid has come under fire from politicians and pundits
because of his demand that any government he joins should prioritize an “equal
sharing of the burden” – a political catchphrase that regrettably loses much of
its pithy punch in translation. Lapid’s goal is to end the situation in which
young haredi men are exempted by default from military service and, as a result
of the terms of that exemption, prevented from joining the workforce for many
years thereafter.
In an attempt to delegitimize his position, Lapid has
come under unfair ad hominem attacks about the nature of his own military
service as a journalist in Bamahane. His detractors assert that Lapid is hardly
in a position to demand an equal sharing of the burden, since the burden he
personally bore as a soldier was relatively light in comparison to that of an
infantryman in the Golani Brigade, for example. That line of argument is, of
course, thoroughly specious since it has absolutely no bearing on Lapid’s
opposition to the blanket exemption from any form of service that is given to
all members of an entire sector simply by virtue their membership in that
sector.
It goes without saying that not all military service is equally
grueling or demanding, and many non-haredi Israelis dodge military service
altogether. But one would have to be willfully blind to the principle in
question to claim that Lapid’s demand that the haredim be subject to the draft
like all other Jewish Israelis is a populist rant simply because not all
military service is equal. The placement (or not) within the military machine of
individual non-haredi Israelis is a reflection of their personal abilities,
disposition and choices, and does not stem automatically from their class
affiliation, as in the case of young haredi men.
Exemption from service
by class is morally repugnant, and Lapid is right to demand that it
end.
Despite the absence of any evidence, Lapid has also been accused of
being motivated by “hatred” for haredim. Of course, this ignores the fact that
it is the haredim, as individuals, who stand to gain the most by ending their
automatic exemption from military service and their subsequent exclusion from
the workforce. In the current situation, many haredim are forced to lead a life
of privation if not downright poverty because of the constraints that keep them
unemployed. They also earn the contempt of many non-haredi Israelis,
self-declared “suckers” who complain about being forced to carry the haredi
“shirkers” and “freeloaders” on their backs.
Ending the advantage the
haredim derive from their membership in a privileged class – exemption from the
draft – will simultaneously mitigate the disadvantage that stems from membership
in the same class – unemployment, privation and derision by affiliation. No less
importantly, the Israeli economy will benefit from increased tax revenues and
growth, coupled with significantly lower welfare payments. After all, the
haredim, as a group, will no longer need the various stipends and other benefits
they receive for their very sustenance once they have the ability to be
gainfully employed.
THE HAREDIM, ultimately, stand to share much more
than the burden if the change Lapid has demanded is carried out. They also stand
to share the wealth.
While the changes Lapid has proposed would benefit
all Israelis, first and foremost the haredim themselves, its flaw is the
narrowness of its scope.
There is a second group of Israelis who are
exempted by dint of their membership in that group from military service and who
also suffer from high unemployment, privation and discrimination, albeit for
very different reasons. That group is the Arab citizens of Israel.
While
military service for the Arab citizens of Israel might not be a realistic
solution for a plethora of reasons, civilian service for young Arab men and
women is. Moreover, as in the case of the haredim, allowing the Arab citizens to
help shoulder the burden of service must go hand in hand with increased
integration of the Arab citizens into the workforce.
According to a
recent study by the Taub Center, unemployment rates among Arab Israelis are far
higher than previously thought, particularly among women. Some 30 percent of all
unemployed Israelis are Arabs, and roughly 40 percent of Arab Israelis with
higher education degrees are unable to find work in their field of
expertise.
Those experiences, which can be averted at least partially
with the help of government programs, naturally exacerbate the sense of
disgruntlement over perceived discrimination.
The outgoing government
launched a campaign last June designed to promote the employment of Arabs in the
public and private sector, and should be commended for doing so. As in the case
of the haredi sector, increased employment among Arab Israelis will not only
serve to reduce the welfare burden shouldered by the state but will also
increase tax revenues. More importantly, increased Arab employment would also go
a long way to reducing the sense shared by many Arab Israelis that they suffer
from discrimination.
If the next government of Israel succeeds in
allowing these two sectors of Israeli society to share the burdens and the
benefits of citizenship, Israel will be a better country as a result. Not only
for the self-declared “suckers” who currently do share the burden (and the
wealth), but for the members of the sectors that do not.
The author is a
veteran Israeli writer and translator.
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