SECULAR COERCION
Also, I find it strange that Carmon is so concerned with the integration of women into the army, without concern for the overt secular coercion he is trying to implement with that act.
With so many demanding that the Chareidim enlist en mass into the army, it’s statements like Carmon’s that quite rightfully scare the bejeebers out of the Chareidim.
Everyone talks about integrating Chareidim, but so few are talking about the legitimate demands and requirements that the Chareidim (and National-Religious) have, for the environment they will be encapsulated within for three full years.
Carmon seems to lack of the understanding that he can’t use the army to promote his secular values, to force religious people (of all stripes) to be placed in situations that are religiously difficult or impermissible. Instead he is demanding that religious Jews compromise on their values – but not he on his.
Integration into the IDF isn’t a one-way street, yet for Carmon it apparently should be. That’s called secular coercion.
I won’t even mention that the primary mission of the army is to defend the citizens of Israel in the best way possible,and not to get involved in experimental social engineering.
HIS CONSTITUTION RADICALLY CHANGES THE ‘JEWISH’ IN JEWISH-DEMOCRATIC
I find it a worrisome thought that Carmon is one of those in trying to draft a Constitution for Israel, a document that is supposed to be a unifying document that combines our common denominators.
His draft already calls for “limited” public transportation on Shabbat, and the legalized opening up of cafes and entertainment centers (while keeping most commercial enterprises closed – which is already the case, for the most part).
Considering that only Israel’s weakest population will be the ones forced to work on Shabbat is of no concern to his self-proclaimed Jewish-based humanistic democracy. In fact, it will result in more people being forced to work on Shabbat than ever before.
His secular-humanistic-democratic values are definitely not socially just, nor very Jewish.
Carmon is simply coming from a position that looks down on religious values as secondary to his secular “democratic” ones.
THE RELIGIOUS ENEMIES OF DEMOCRACY
This is hardly Carmon’s first statements against the religious “enemies of democracy“, as he expressed in a previous article that talked about the religious undermining Israel’s democracy and humanistic value system.
“National religious rabbis are also increasingly undermining democratic sources of authority.”
Carmon believes the “Jewish” component of the state should not based on the broader, more comprehensive religious value system that Judaism is built upon, but only on more limited, “humanistic” values, that he selectively interprets and decided has higher priority and value.
This results in his questions:
“Will the enemies of democracy prevail and turn Israel into a state of diminished freedom? Or will Israel remain true to itself as a Jewish nation-state that fulfills the values of freedom, human dignity, and equality? Will we be wise enough to develop the liberal character of the state – a strategic asset – or will we lose our democratic values, and with them our place in the family of nations?”
Nothing about actual Judaism though.
DEFENDING THE REAL FIFTH COLUMN
And If you’re not sure what democratic freedoms Carmon is promoting, you only need look earlier in that same article where he rails against Israel trying to take steps to defend itself from foreign interests.
“…anti-democratic measures pushed through by populist politicians in the Knesset. Thus, for example, the Knesset recently decided to launch a parliamentary investigation into the sources of funding of human rights organizations operating in Israel.”
Carmon is referring to the investigation that wanted to disclose foreign and enemy government’s funding of NGOs in Israel, who try to manipulate both our democracy and ability to defend ourselves.
Somehow he wildly links this to:
“…a series of proposed bills designed to inflame the volatile relationship between Israel’s Jewish and Arab citizens.”
If you want to talk about fifth columns, Carmon could have easily picked the example of foreign funded NGOs, with their foreign funded value systems and goals, directly trying to undermine Israel’s democracy as well as the IDF’s ability to actually defend us. But instead he chose to single out religious officers loyal to the state of Israel.
CONCLUSIONS
As you can see, there appears to be a common thread to Carmon’s statements.
Any Constitutional draft Carmon produces will need to be reviewed with a fine tooth comb, to weed out his obvious and inherent bias – but probably, it should just be thrown completely into the trash, as the bias will be embedded far too deep.
Instead, Israel should seriously consider the Alternative Constitution proposed by the Institute for Zionist Strategies, a document which is actually more unifying, more democratic, and of course, more Jewish.