1.
After weeks of a sense of despair in the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Security Committee deliberations, yesterday a new-old demand emerged regarding the need to also recruit Israeli Arabs.
It took me back to the summer of 2012.
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Those were the days of the deliberations of the 'Committee for Promoting Equality in Burden', known as the 'Plesner Committee', which was established after the repeal of the 'Tal Law'. I still remember standing there, at a press conference held in advance by MK Yochanan Plesner - presenting the conclusions of his report: "By 2016, 801,300 ultra-Orthodox men aged 18 to 22 will serve in the IDF!"'
That's exactly what he said. Remind me what date it is on the current calendar?
'Yisrael Beiteinu was then part of the Netanyahu coalition, but at the same time it carried the flag of "equal burden" above the surface. Because underneath, its representative on the committee, MK Dudu Rotem, the late, was quite cooperative with the Haredim.
One day I met him in the corridor of the Mishkan. He gave a speech with pathos. "Some people think that only yeshiva students should be drafted and not all Arab draft dodgers should be drafted, even though there are 30,000 of them every year... That kind of thing won't happen," he told me.
I wondered if he was trying to implement his party's right-wing agenda, or if he was actually carrying out an exercise designed to pull the chestnuts out of the fire. Well, who would try to mess with the Arabs and recruit them for national service?.
But he was determined. "I don't intend to arrest anyone, I just won't give them economic rights.".
He smiled and added: "I've told you more than once that I'm good for the Haredim, because ultimately I know the problems.".
I told him that I heard that when MK Moshe Gafni wants to influence the committee, he calls him... "Ask Gafni, I won't tell you about any meeting I hold behind closed doors... I don't bring it out.".
Then, after a minute of thought, he added: "Let's put it this way - Gafni is a smart person, so he knows who to turn to when he needs help...""
The Haredi press called MK Rotem derogatory nicknames, "Yes, I know that I am Antiochus and the wicked Haman...", he told me.
"Are you up to it?" I asked him.
""Yes, with pleasure, just do me a favor and every time they write this, send me the newspaper...""
Remember, definitely for the blessing.
2.
One day I sat down to write a personal column for Tzipi Livni, then chairman of the Kadima party. I described what a true Talmid Tocham is and why the demand to enlist in the IDF or for civilian service should be directed at someone who is not studying. As always, I also presented my personal feelings, as a mother of children.
When I met my uncle Rotem in one of the corridors of the Mishkan that same week, he complimented me on my words. "If you're serious, let them continue studying," he stated.
A few more weeks passed, and we met again. "I'm counting on you, Uncle, to make sure my child can continue to study in peace in the yeshiva," I said. Those were the days, as you remember, the days of the 'Plesner Committee,' when the tension in the Knesset reached its peak, and the fear of a bad law grew.
""Don't belittle me," he replied. "As far as I'm concerned, everyone should serve." My feeling was that his real 'uncle' had disappeared again, and he was speaking from the throat of his patron.
That Monday, on the way out of Jerusalem, somewhere before one of the traffic lights, I met him again. Our two cars waited side by side for the green light. We opened the windows and the conversation continued.
""I was completely serious," he clarified. "My child," I told him, "goes to yeshiva at 7 in the morning, and returns at 10 at night. He's serious. You don't mean he'll include the honorable army in his busy schedule," you said.
""So that's it," he clarified. "For my part, at 10 at night he will go to the service.".
Would your father say that too? I asked him, hoping that perhaps the memory of his righteous father would stand up to my arguments. "I haven't had conversations with my father in a long time," he said, laughing, as he closed the window and started the car...
""Look, they'll still recruit your son," he shouted at me one day, as he left the plenary session, leaning on his cane.
The government dispersed. The Gemara students - not.
3.
The discussions in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee have not, so far, led to even a comma of agreement on a conscription law.
But this time it was Justice Minister Yariv Levin who mentioned the legal advice's evasion of the question of Arab conscription and true 'equality of burden'.
In response to a question from MK Simon Moshiashvili of Shas about the recruitment of Arabs, the Minister of Justice referred to the Deputy Legal Advisor, Attorney Gil Limon, and expressed his position that there is room for the recruitment of Arab citizens.
This is what Minister Levin wrote to the Shas MK, while attaching the position of the legal advice, which claims the exact opposite: "The query in question was forwarded for the consideration of Attorney Gil Limon, Deputy Legal Advisor to the Government. Attorney Limon, in response, requested to forward the two attached documents for your review.".
""I would like to emphasize that the things as they emerge from the aforementioned letters are unacceptable to me. My position is that there is definitely room for the conscription of Arab Israeli citizens - whether for military service or for significant civilian service. I certainly do not accept the conduct of the Legal Advisory Service to the Government, as well as the High Court's position on the matter, both of which completely ignore the obligation to also conscript the Arab public for significant service.".
The minister emphasized: "I think it is appropriate that the process begin without delay also with respect to the Arab public.".
MK Simon Moshiashvili's office explained that their intention in submitting the query was to prove that the 'value of equality' is not in the eyes of the legal counsel: "Of course, MK Simon Moshiashvili has no interest in recruiting Arabs, and his entire goal in the queries he submitted to the Ministry of Justice is to prove that some of those who persecute yeshiva students are carrying the banner of 'military needs' in vain and that they do not have the 'value of equality' in mind, but the persecution of the Torah, and indeed the answers prove these claims.".
4.
Will it ripen? It is clear to everyone that no one will throw this twig into the already burning fire of Arab-Israeli relations. The only thing missing for the security forces is riots over the background of a forced recruitment process for civilian service.
On the other hand, let's see how the learned judges of the court will manage to explain the inequality between the requirement for the Haredim to enlist and the non-requirement for the Arab-Israeli public, who is entitled to daycare, National Insurance, the option of leaving the country, and the option of voting at the ballot box.
My guess: The learned and elaborate explanation will be found. And maybe, who knows, in an age of miracles, another miracle will be found. One that will save the world of Torah from the decree of conscription.
