Guest Post: For Israel, Domestic Issue Poses Challenges, Opportunities

I am in Paris, working on my French, reading a lot, and using up all my vacation time before I take a leave of absence from CNAS at the end of the summer to spend a year working in the governmnent. You can expect my posting on the blog to be pretty light for the next month. For the past semester, though, we at CNAS have been really lucky to have had Hilary Polak as an external relations intern. Hilary's fluency in Hebrew and familiarity with Israeli politics and society really helped me, in particular, as I worked on our big Middle East report this past spring. Hilary starts at the Institute for the Study of War this month, but before she left, I asked her to help me make sense of the new service law that is causing such a ruckus in Israel.

***

More
Israeli-Arabs, or Palestinian citizens of Israel, volunteered for civil service through the military than Haredi (also known
as ultra-orthodox) Jews in 2011. Of the 2,400 Israeli-Arabs who volunteered,
90% were women, 40% Muslim, 36% Bedouin, 13% Christian and 11% Druze. For those
citizens of Israel who are not obligated to serve in the military, the option of civil service in schools,
hospitals, community centers, retirement homes and even ministries is
available. The fact that more Palestinian citizens of Israel than
ultra-orthodox Jews have opted to do national service is a symptom of a much
larger, more grave and elusive challenge facing the State of Israel today.
Benjamin Netanyahu, who formed and leads the new coalition government that
holds a majority of 94 Knesset seats, has the chance to address this national
issue and implement formative change, if he chooses to seize the opportunity.

You could say
Israel is suffering from a serious “personality disorder.” The nation is
undergoing an intense internal struggle to understand and define its current
and future identity. The Jewish state that was built on the ideals of
pluralism, democracy and liberalism, intended as a haven for all Jews and the
majority of whose growth was initially shouldered by nationalist, non-religious
kibbutzniks is realizing a greater threat than was ever anticipated is growing
rapidly in their midst: the Haredim. What started in 1948 as a few hundred
yeshiva students in the holy cities of Israel has evolved into the
fastest-growing societal block in the country with an average of 7.6 children per
woman, roughly triple the rate for the population as a whole, according to the
Israeli government’s Central Bureau of Statistics. The Haredi population
is exempt from military service due to their religious convictions, with 11% of
18-year-olds granted exemption in 2007 and a projected 23% in 2019, and they
pose a severe strain the economy, challenge the progressive, egalitarian
characteristics of the state and hold major sway in electoral politics.

This schism in
Israeli society is an incredibly sensitive one, and it can be felt almost
everywhere: from the apartment of a Russian Jewish family to an Arab village,
from the urban metropolis of Tel Aviv to the agricultural kibbutzim. The
atmosphere in Jerusalem is particularly difficult -- the air seems to be almost
physically stifling. Popular culture, the news and the internet is swamped with
material referencing the growing number of Haredim and the associated tensions.
The lack of Haredi participation in the the military, an integral piece of
Israeli society and a potential vehicle for upward social and economic
mobility, places a huge burden on the backs of secular Israeli citizens.
Secular Jews are forced to compensate for their absence in the military realm.
In turn, Haredi Jews have their Torah studies financed by working Israelis. The
ultra-orthodox who do volunteer typically belong to the Dati
Leumi, or Religious Zionism, group, and most
of them serve in combat units isolated from other sections of the IDF. There is
a concern that these religious soldiers, operating in high-risk areas like
Jenin, may choose to obey their religious obligations in place of official
military orders.

In this tiny,
dynamic country where domestic politics are almost inseparable from foreign and
defense policy, how is Israel to address this problem? The new, centrist
government coalition, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud and
Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz of Kadima, may hold the key to a solution.
While the new government might not be able to ease the stress that exists
between subsets of Israeli society, they can decide to capitalize on the
opportunity to instate new laws and reforms to alleviate some of these issues.
However, in order to do this, they must maintain the unity government at all
costs.

The February 2012 Supreme Court ruling that the Tal law (the law granting
exemption from military service to ultra-orthodox Jews) is unconstitutional has
provided a window for action. Netanyahu has a powerful coalition where he does
not need to comply with the demands of the religious parties like Shas and
United Torah Judaism. It is doubtful that a Haredi draft will be established tomorrow, but the government can take serious
steps toward improving the situation by crafting a new resolution that would
coerce Haredi Jews to serve in the military. As a result, the Haredim could
play a positive role in the economy and pay their dues to society. There has
been a great deal of rhetoric surrounding this topic-- the majority of MKs and
Israeli citizens are in agreement that Haredim should be subject to military
service, and Netanyahu, Mofaz and Barak have all made statements in support for
more inclusive conscription laws-- but so far, no one has made any concrete
advancements on the matter.

There has been
some movement on the settlement issue in the last few weeks. In Netanyahu’s
first major move concerning settlements since Kadima joined his coalition government,
he instructed his ministers to
vote
against
a
draft
bill
that
would
have
retroactively
legalized
illegally
built
settler
homes
in
the
West
Bank. The
settlements are a contentious subject for the Israeli government, the Obama
administration and other international powers. While this move might seem
insignificant in the scheme of things, it may be the slightest intimation of
where Netanyahu and his coalition are heading. How Netanyahu and Mofaz will
address the religious, right-wing settlers with their newfound political clout
in the long-run remains to be seen.

Netanyahu, with
his keen political skills and significant Knesset majority, has the chance to
go down in history as an Israeli leader who implemented important legislation
at a crucial time. The new coalition has the opportunity to tackle real,
serious issues-- like the swelling Haredi population and the burden they place
on the whole of Israeli society, migrant workers, the settlements and even the
peace process, among other things-- with more ease than many prior governments.
Time will tell if he will indeed take on some of the most factious and
emotionally charged topics that exist in Israel today, and how he will do so. Mofaz and
Kadima must also prove they are players in the game and are crucial actors in
the government assuming a more secular and middle position; if
they
fail,
the
2013 elections
may
be
their
undoing.
Israel desperately needs to look inward and deal with the complex side effects
of her “personality disorder.” By focusing on improving Israel’s domestic
policies, the unity government can ensure that the nation will be better
equipped to face even greater security threats looming nearby and elsewhere in
the international community.