3 Responses

1. This is already old news (from a week or two ago).

   They haven’t decided what to do with anyone who either refuses to shows up, or shows up and refuse to take an oath of allegiance to the army (the latter makes that a draft resistor rather than a draft evader, and is much more significant in terms of domestic and international human rights laws).

   They also haven’t decided on how conscription will be tied to funding for yeshivos. Will the government cut off all public funding for yeshivos that have draft evaders learning there? Will they offer stipends and benefits only to veterans? How serious will the army be about accomodating religious practices? How seriously will the government work to prevent hareidi veterans from being discriminated against in post-miliary employment.

   Done properly, Israel will survive and benefit from a higher degree of hareidi involvement in the economy. Done improperly, it will cripple the army, serious damage Israeli’s international standing and support, and manage to turn Neturei Karta into a major political force, and do more to undermine zionism than the Arabs have ever managed to so.

2. Akuperma, no one need make an oath of allegiance to the army. A declaration is allowed. Also, the declaration is made at the end of basic training, not when one “shows up.” Further, the oath/declaration is shouted out by the entire group that finishes its training. No one notices if individual soldiers say nothing or mutter “Di medine iz treyf,” meaning that such soldiers do not become “draft resistors.”

3. As I recall, at Bakum (the induction center) one is asked to swear or affirm that one will obey orders. It is part of the paperwork of getting inducted. An alternative location to do open resistance would be at the local Lishat giyus by refusing to enter the vehicle. Since most hareidim are almost by definition “Rodfei shalom”, they will probably just not show up, requiring the zionists to take the first step (and allowing them the option of doing nothing more than ignoring them).

   The key point is what the zionist do when that happens. They could content themselves by cutting off financial benefits to the student and his yeshiva (which would have no impact on anti-zionists as they don’t accept government funding). They could try making arrests. Of course, that means the individual can start the process of being treated as political prisoners under international law (which has evolved a great deal since the International Committee of the Red Cross made a point of not noticing Jews in concentration camps). Under most country’s procedures, the bachur could request political asylum as a person being persecuted because of religion.

   The Israelis should worry about the spectacle of an obviously frum Jew receiving the equivalent of a “green card” (American document allowing one permanent residence and right to work) on grounds of being a refugee from religious persecution. Indeed, if a yeshiva arranged to stay in Eretz Yisrael by moving to an area under Arab control it would prove devasting in terms of propaganda.

   The Israelis are playing with fire, and don’t fully realize it. Most of the goyim who support Israel do so not because they appreciate Israel’s toleration of toeiva or “inappropriate tuition”, or even Israeli oranages or Israeli high tech, or nice beaches in Eliat.