Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu last week conveyed a message to the Haredi partners in his coalition that the removal of Yoav Gallant from his position as Defense Minister would be made possible after the attack on Iran, Kan11 News reported Sunday night.
CONSCRIPTION – CONSCRIPTION!
The above sub-headline was meant to be sung to the tune of Tevye’s “Tradition.” Anyway, the connection between the Haredi parties and DM Gallant begins and ends with the new conscription law, which according to its many critics, including inside the coalition, maintains the old status quo with a few cosmetic changes, most notably setting annual quotas for Haredi enlistment. This is highly unusual in a democratic society, legislating not for individuals but for a community – and once the quota is full, the rest of the Haredi youths would be exempt, regardless of whether or not they attend a yeshiva regularly.
Also, although the proposed quotas will be larger, they would prove very hard to enforce – as was demonstrated the last time the IDF sent enlistment notice to several thousand Haredi young men and the number that showed up was not big enough for a game of one basket basketball.
And because the proposed law targets an entire swath of the population, the penalties are also communal rather than individual.
Since there is no personal conscription obligation in the new law, it is also not possible to personally penalize those who evade conscription. The most that can be done is to impose general sanctions, such as denying funding to yeshivas who fail to meet their recruitment quotas. However, those yeshivas would likely be compensated the next time Haredi lawmakers sign a coalition agreement – with Netanyahu, Gantz, or Lapid, by the way, they’re all willing to pay big time to lure the Haredim into their coalition governments.
And, most problematically, the new law does not create a direct penalty for the Haredi youth who disobeys the call from his local recruitment office.
SECULAR DRAFT DODGERS
Before we proceed to shame and condemn Haredi politicians for aiding and abetting their flock who refuse to enlist, we must acknowledge that refusal to serve is a national epidemic, which means that Haredim are picked on not so much because they fail to live up to the IDF HR’s expectations, but because they are Haredim.
In March 2023, the State Comptroller published data on the recruitment rate for the IDF. The rate of non-recruitment in the 2021 cycle (excluding the Arab sector) was 31% among men and 45% among women – an increase of 3.5% among men and 2.5% among women compared to 2016.
Fact: when outgoing Supreme Court President Dorit Beinish in 2012 revoked the Tal Law because it wasn’t yielding a sufficient number of Haredi recruits, the IDF was recoding some 3,000 Haredi recruits a year, with a rising trend. Never mind that Beinish’s real purpose in destroying Tal was to destabilize the Netanyahu coalition – the extrapolated percentage of non-recruitment among Haredim under Tal was lower than the secular figures!
GALLANT FIRING INSIDE THE TANK
On Sunday, DM Gallant sent Netanyahu and the ministers of the political-security cabinet a letter in which he claimed that “the war is being waged without a compass” and its goals should be updated. He sent the letter shortly before the attack on Iran last Friday night, and its contents were leaked to News13, the most vehemently anti-Bibi, anti-settlers, pro-protesters “mainstream” channel, a channel that chose near-financial ruin a year ago by firing its biggest stars who happened to also be right-leaning presenters. The letter was also sent to the head of the Shin Bet Ronen Bar, the head of the Mossad David Barnea, and the IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi.
This was not an advisory note for the decision-makers in Israel. This was a ruthless attack, and a transparent effort to protect Gallant’s hide when he faced a commission of inquiry regarding the October 7 catastrophe.
Gallant revealed the essence of his letter in Sunday’s state memorial service for the fallen soldiers of Operation Iron Swords, and as you’ll see, he essentially touched on all the talking points of Netanyahu’s enemies on the left:
קול אמיץ ואחראי מתוך הממשלה.
שר הביטחון יואב גלנט, היום בטקס האזכרה הממלכתי:״….ההישגים החשובים האלה יוצרים שינוי ביחסי הכוחות שבין ישראל לבין אויביה, ומאפשרים לנו, בדרג המדיני, לממש את מטרות המלחמה, ולקבל כל החלטה מתוך עוצמה והרתעה, כדי להגיע למציאות שונה במזרח התיכון.
זה… pic.twitter.com/UkgDeehgkc— Nava Rozolyo נאווה רוזוליו (@rozolyo) October 27, 2024
“This is the place to point out that not every goal can be achieved only through military action. Power is not the be-all and end-all. When we come to fulfill our moral and ethical duty to return the hostages home – we will be required to make painful concessions. We must do this for the hostages, for their families, for the fighters who fell in the name of this cause, for the legacy of the IDF, and in the name of the Jewish national ethos. This is our responsibility, this is my responsibility as Minister of Defense.”
Can you imagine why a senior Israeli official about to enter negotiations with the enemy would announce his willingness to make concessions before the first Hamas demand has been stated? Also, as many have pointed out, where and who are the Hamas leaders to whom Gallant is eager to concede so much in advance?
The answer is that Gallant couldn’t care less about the fate of the hostages, much like the crazed Ehud Barak anarchists, who are no longer usurping the hostage families to advance their attacks on Netanyahu. Gallant is thinking about the day after, when he, the PM, and the security establishment will face the nation’s commission of inquiry. This is why he also said:
“As on the morning of October 7th – so, too, throughout the year of the war, as for the significant achievements – so also for the failures, the heavy prices, and the national challenges, which we are obliged to realize.”
Sure, I ran over a pedestrian as soon as I started my driver’s test, but did you see my parallel parking?
NETANYAHU’S (PETTY) REVENGE
Netanyahu exacted his revenge on Gallant during the same national memorial ceremony when he described the attack on Iran. He said the attack was “precise and powerful,” and that Israel acted according to an “orderly plan.” He then expressed the nation’s gratitude to the people who gave us this powerful victory. He thanked “All our soldiers and commanders in the IDF and in the security forces who were partners in the operation: the Chief of Staff, the Air Force Commander, the Air Force pilots, the mechanics and all the ground crews, the head of Military Intelligence and the entire intelligence system, the head of the Mossad, and the men and women of the Mossad.”
Oops… he omitted one senior official, the civilian commander of the armed forces, you know… Yes, he skipped Yoav Gallant.
