Israel Matzav

Committee member rips Plesner for adding recommendations to report after committee disbanded

Israel Radio reports that committee member Professor Yedidia Stern is accusing Chairman Yohanan Plesner (pictured) of adding divisive recommendations to the Plesner Committee report on changing Israel's military draft after the committee disbanded. The recommendations include some of the most divisive issues, including the insistence on drafting Haredim at age 18, and the demand for personal sanctions against those who do not serve.

On Thursday morning, Haaretz published an interview done by Ari Shavit with Professor Stern behind its paywall. Fortunately, the print version has made it online. Here's some of what was said:

"Plesner is intelligent, serious, hard-working and persistent," says Stern. "But the report he composed after the committee was disbanded goes too far, too forcefully. Its current version could aggravate the problem it is intended to solve."

Stern is afraid the Plesner report could bring us to a harsh internal confrontation.

"As Israelis, we must define our goals clearly," says Stern, in his small room at the institute, located in Jerusalem's Talbiya neighborhood. "One important goal is equality in distributing the burden. Another is integrating ultra-Orthodox people into Israel's economy. But the most important goal is integrating them into society. We must enable the development of an ultra-Orthodox Israeli who is not necessarily Zionist by ideology, but is part of Israeli society."

"The new Haredi-Israeli can feel solidarity with Israeli society without losing his separate identity. He will be part of the national sovereign experience without losing his faith and endangering his community. The main path to reaching this goal is through military service. If the Haredim treat the IDF as they do Zaka [a largely Haredi organization that gathers remains of the dead for burial] and Yad Sarah [an Orthodox-run charity] - we will have made a difference. If IDF uniforms hang on clothes lines in Bnei Brak and Beitar Illit and Ramat Beit Shemesh - Israel will be a different place," he says.

"The ultra-Orthodox are brothers in an important counter-culture. They need and are entitled to recognition, protection and the ability to thrive," says Stern. "On the other hand, we can't let them take over the public space, public money and the Israeli narrative. To achieve the right balance between these goals we must integrate them into the social fabric while creating solidarity based on mutual respect. We must not hate them, degrade them or belittle ourselves before them. ... We must make them part of the military service experience in a measured way that doesn't undermine the foundations of their existence."

Once the High Court of Justice has had its say (striking down the Tal Law ) we must accept its ruling. The Plesner committee had to draft the plan for the ultra-Orthodox community's integration into Israeli society, he says.

Enlisting Haredi men at age 18 could endanger their identity, evoke sweeping resistance and ignite a culture war, says Stern. By contrast, at age 22 they are married yeshiva graduates, deeply anchored in their way of life. Their recruitment will not cause the major yeshivas' collapse nor undermine the Haredi world. This was a balanced, far-seeing decision. True, it will cost more, but the social proceeds are much higher, he adds.

"The report's decisions reflected a resolve to recruit them with respect, and treated Torah study as one of the elements shaping Israel's identity as a Jewish state," said Stern. "They also reflected Israel's values as a liberal state that does not use force to change its citizens' identity."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received bad advice from someone and disbanded the committee, he continues. This was an error that harmed Netanyahu's chances of reaching an agreed solution. It created a crisis in which Plesner had no choice but to complete the report himself. But when he did so - in two days - he went too far, setting an 80 percent draft goal and a quota of 1,500 draft-exempt yeshiva prodigies, he says. Stern believes 80 percent is too ambitious and the 1,500 quota is problematic.

Read the whole thing.

Stern is right that there would be much less resistance to sending Haredim to the army at age 22 than at age 18. But of course, to have the courage to admit that, one must also accept (as Stern does but others do not) that the army cannot serve as a melting pot that will produce identical Israelis. The mistaken goal of looking to create identical Israelis is what has made this society discard the possibility of having a professional, volunteer army, which would cost us less and be more efficient.

What's most important is not making Haredim 'part of Israeli society.' Those who want to be will be if they are integrated into the workforce, and those who want to be insular (which will likely be most Haredim) will remain among their own. But what's more important is to integrate Haredim into the Israeli economy and enable them to earn a living without suffering discrimination and (wherever possible) without the need to form their own business ventures serving only the Haredi community. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening. In the long run, in a welfare state like ours, the failure to integrate Haredim into the economy will be far more costly than any (lack of) military service or 'failure' to make them 'Israelis.'

Labels: Haredim, IDF, Israeli economy, Plesner Committee

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:05 AM