Two foolish youths and a Jewish Palestinian - by Vic Rosenthal

...Everything in this story is surreal. Imagine: Hillel Garmi believes that Hamas is nonviolent, and Luhar Altman thinks that Israel should not have an army. And a Jewish Palestinian wishes for “many more like them.” 

A "Jewish Palestinian"

Vic Rosenthal..
Abu Yehuda..
09 August '18..
Link: http://abuyehuda.com/2018/08/two-foolish-youths-and-a-jewish-palestinian/

Young people are naïve. They pop out of their mothers’ wombs as little fresh-faced tabulae rasae with a huge amount of energy. By the time they approach draft age, Israeli culture treats them as adults. They look like adults, and they are given adult responsibilities; but because they have until then lived in a bubble of people that care about them, some of them have not learned about the reality outside it. They are unable to internalize that there are people out there who do not care about them, indeed who would rip their throats out to steal their bicycles. Or for nothing at all except their Jewish identity.

The bubbles that protected the young Luhar Altman and Hillel Garmi, who feature in this Ha’aretz story by Jewish Palestinian Amira Hass, must have been warm and soft beyond compare, because the degree of naïveté that they still display at age 19 is mind-boggling. Luhar and Hillel have decided that they would prefer not to serve in the IDF. Instead of taking the usual paths to avoid service that are available to a young Israeli – what to say to an army psychologist to mark you as undesirable is common knowledge – these two have chosen to refuse to serve on political grounds and will go to prison, to the great admiration of Jewish Palestinian Hass.

They are doing this to inspire other young Israelis to also avoid service. This is their way of fighting “the regime’s immorality.” I can’t imagine what they think the success of their campaign would look like, although we don’t have to look very far to see examples of how the folks that the IDF defends us against treat the people under their control.

So far they have merely shown that they are part of the anti-Zionist Left. But what is remarkable is the utter counterfactual idiocy of their reasons, the degree of blindness to reality they display. I wish they had said simply that they hated the Jewish state and wanted it replaced with an Arab state, the way Jewish Palestinian Hass does. At least then their position would make sense. But no. Let me quote Hass quoting them:

[Garmi’s] declaration opens: “This year, during the wave of unarmed demonstrations which took place near the Gaza Strip fence, I read what Ahmed Abu Artema, who organized the demonstrations, wrote, and I was impressed to discover people who take on the situation between the sea and the Jordan without using a gun. Like them, I too believe in civil disobedience – a tactic aimed at using unarmed force to underscore the regime’s immorality.”

Like them? I mean, seriously, Hillel Garmi, do you think that the riots and attempted incursions at the fence are about nonviolence and civil disobedience? Suppose the IDF left their posts at the fence and went to the beach in Tel Aviv. What do you think would happen? You do know that when Hamas operatives are not “using a gun” they are using a knife, or a car, as a weapon? You do know that they want to kill you, personally, because you are a Jew and the Quran tells them to?

The bigger picture - Israel’s burden of inequalities

What is interesting is that the health issues that prevented these people from serving evidently didn’t prevent them from carrying on successful careers as television personalities, performers or activists. Some might consider that odd, since the army has positions, such as the military band, that are not dissimilar from the professional career of these celebrities. It appears that increasingly for some, medical exemptions from army service are becoming the secular man’s yeshiva.

Seth J. Frantzman..
Terra Incognita/JPost..
12 February '13..

‘The members of the younger generation refuse to be your suckers anymore. I’m not sure you are aware of this, but polls indicate that Israel’s secular youth regard the ultra- Orthodox as the most hated and threatening community in the country... pray with us for the success of your integration.”

These aren’t the words of Hungarian nationalists, demanding the Jews “integrate” because their continued isolation makes them “hated.” This was published in the leading Hebrew daily by a Tel Aviv University professor, representing the secular intelligentsia in Israel and its populist extremism.

The frequent demand that the haredim, often called “parasites” in the press, on TV and radio, should “share the burden” of IDF service must be examined.

TO UNDERSTAND how the army’s burden is not equally distributed we must start with the facts. At the Knesset Tuesday Yair Lapid claimed: “10 percent of the population cannot threaten the other 90% with civil war.” What he should have said was that 10% should not threaten the other 50% with civil war; of enlistment-age Israelis, i.e men and women aged 18, only half serve in the IDF. Of Jewish men, 75% serve. In a report from the IDF’s manpower division published in Yediot Aharonot, by 2020 some 40% of Israeli Jews will not be serving in the IDF.

According to most published data sources, of the Jewish men who do not serve, only half do not serve because they receive Torah study exemptions. The other half are exempted due to medical reasons, criminal backgrounds or because they are abroad, or because they simply dodge the draft. In short, there are an equal number of secular and haredi men who do not serve in the army.

Greenfield - Israel's War of Words

Daniel Greenfield..
Sultan Knish..
23 July '12..



(While not agreeing 100% on all the points raised, there is not likely to be a better analysis of the varied interests and trends within Israel concerning mandatory national service, a complex topic, an excellent summation. Y.)

If you read the headlines, the biggest issue in Israel isn't Iran's nuclear program or Syria's chemical weapons falling into the hands of Hezbollah or the Muslim Brotherhood; it's how to draft Haredim, widely referred to as Ultra-Orthodox Jews, into the army.

Until recently, the Israeli left was feverishly complaining about the surplus of Religious Nationalist Jews in the army and the threat of religious fanaticism. Now it's back to complaining that there aren't enough Ultra-Orthodox religious fanatics in the army, after spending last year complaining that the ones in the army were too fanatical and the ones on buses were even worse.

Religious Nationalists in the army are a problem, because many of them are patriots and not too enthusiastic about giving up land to terrorists. The Ultra-Orthodox don't care about the country or how much land it has, which makes them ideal recruits from the left's point of view. Unfortunately, they don't actually want to join the army.

The left's ideal recruit doesn't care about the country and mechanically follows orders to ethnically cleanse Jewish towns and villages. But, unfortunately, that ideal recruit would rather be playing guitar in Tel Aviv or studying the Talmud in Jerusalem than patrolling the frontier and fighting terrorists. The leftist sons and daughters of the idle rich want to protest at checkpoints in between parties, not serve at them, and, while Haredim will mechanically follow orders, those orders won't come from the military, its political generals or an activist Supreme Court.

IMRA - Sacrifice of IDF Service Not Comparable To Volunteer Service

Dr. Aaron Lerner..
IMRA Weekly Commentary..
19 July '12..

"He who is commanded and fulfills [the command], is greater than he who fulfills it though not commanded."

R. Hanina - Babylonian Talmud Kiddushin 31a

There is a very basic and fundamental difference between the “sacrifice” Israelis make who serve in the IDF and those who engage in other activity - no matter how noble the activity.

And that is the “sacrifice” of freedom by those who serve in the IDF.

A few simple contrasts:

A soldier who doesn’t show up at his base can end up in jail.

A yeshiva student who doesn’t show up at his yeshiva faces only whatever disciplinary measures the institution applies. And of course, the yeshiva student can always decline to accept the punishment.

A sick soldier needs to get permission to stay in bed.

A sick yeshiva student can simply stay home.

A soldier who doesn’t like his unit or his commander can apply for a transfer. But unless and until his request is approved he is stuck with his unit and commander. The alternative – again – is jail.

A yeshiva student who doesn’t like his yeshiva may face social costs if he changes institutions – but the choice remains in his hands.

Did the Torah really intend for some Israelis to give their lives to the country and for others to be exempt?

David Stav..
Israel Hayom..
08 July '12..

Much to its detriment, Israel's Torah has recently been dragged into a heated debate that is sending shock waves throughout the country. Israeli society is divided over the issue of drafting haredi (ultra-Orthodox) yeshiva students to the Israel Defense Forces. There are those who claim that the calls to share the burden of service more equally are simply an attack on the world of the Torah, while others argue that touting the importance of Torah study is no more than a cover story to facilitate mass draft dodging.

Meanwhile, under the public radar, several members of ultra-Orthodox parties proposed legislation that would exempt haredi synagogues and yeshivot (religious schools) from the obligation to ensure accessibility for the handicapped. This is in stark contrast to other public institutions, which are required by law to provide such access. The bill has already been approved in its first reading.

The Torah stands on the sidelines and screams out "how long will my name continue to be used in vain?" Did the Torah really intend for some Israelis to give their lives to the country and for others to be exempt? Does the commandment of Joshua, who led the Jewish people after Moses died, to liberate the land of Israel not apply to Torah scholars?

When the 12 tribes of Israel reached the banks of the Jordan on the east side of the river and the tribes of Reuben and Gad asked to stay on that bank outside the land, Moses asked them, "Shall your brethren go to the war, and shall ye sit here?" (Numbers 32:6). When he said this, did Moses consider giving exemptions to yeshiva students? Would it not be more appropriate to take the example of King David, who when he would sit to study Torah would soften like a caterpillar, but when he went out to battle, would make himself "hard like a tree?"

Kushner - From Israel: Egypt

Arlene Kushner..
03 July '12..

It has been revealed that at the time Mohamed Morsi was to be sworn in as president of Egypt, PM Netanyahu's envoy, Yitzhak Molho (pictured), was in Egypt. There he met with General Murad Muwafi, the director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate and with Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the commander-in-chief of Egypt’s Armed Forces.

Discussions were held on cooperation in fighting terrorism in the Sinai and preventing smuggling of arms from the Sinai into Gaza. Molcho re-stated Israel's position: that the peace treaty, as spelled out in the 1979 Camp David Accords, must be maintained.

At the same time he delivered a personal letter from Netanyahu to Morsi, which emphasized that “the peace treaty is in the interest of both countries and contributes to regional stability.”

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It truly is in Egypt's best interest to maintain peace with Israel: Fiscally, the country is teetering on the brink of disaster Already a very poor country prior to the uprising, Egypt was set back seriously by the unrest, which drove away both tourists and investors. With increasing deficits and dwindling foreign currency reserves, Morsi faces huge challenges.

Given these parameters, the prospects of war against Israel are just about non-existent.