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| Dror Mizrachi, is set to be drafted into mandatory service in the Israeli army, but he's requesting an exemption. Joshua Mitnick |
Israeli youths opt out of army service
One in 4 eligible males is now exempt from compulsory military service, according to army figures.
By Joshua Mitnick | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitorfrom the August 14, 2007 edition
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Tel Aviv - Dror Mizrachi's draft profile is a 97. In Israeli army lingo, the score means he's in top physical and mental shape for combat service when he is conscripted next year like most Israeli 18-year-olds.
But Mr. Mizrachi is requesting discharge so he can perform public service work with a human rights group. "I said, 'Gentlemen, this is my conscience: I don't believe in weapons, I'm afraid, and I oppose violence.' This is my truth."
Once upon a time, a request like Mizrachi's could have meant the opprobrium of a society in which the military functioned as Israel's defender, social melting pot, and résumé builder.
But as a greater percentage of Israelis is exempt from mandatory military service and as criticism continues over the army's poor performance last year in the Lebanon war, there has been an erosion in its standing as a paragon of social egalitarianism.
"The army is undergoing very severe strain, in addition to all the issues of training, and efficiency, and command that the army confronted last summer. The crisis that we're experiencing now in Israel is a belated realization that a part of Israeli society allowed itself to go slack,'' says Yossi Klein Halevi, a fellow at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem.
The army's universal draft is based on the ethic that all must risk their lives to defend the country from external threats.
However, according to figures released last month by the army, about 1 in every 4 eligible males is exempted from the compulsory three-year stint in the military. For women, who are required to serve only two years, the exemption figure jumped to 43 percent. In addition, nearly 20 percent leave the army before their terms of service are over.
Army no longer symbolizes solidarity?
Ran Cohen, who serves on the parliament's foreign affairs and defense committee, says only 10 percent of eligible Israeli males got exemptions a decade ago.
"It's worrisome," says Mr. Cohen, a legislator from the left-wing Meretz Party. "Serving in the army used to be the clearest example of domestic solidarity. The fact that it's no longer attractive indicates a weakening of Israeli society."
Many point out that the army has never been a true representative of Israeli society because enlistment isn't mandatory for Arabs who make up 20 percent of the population. Nearly half of the exemptions go to ultraobservant Jews who have historically been allowed deferrals to study in religious academies but who now make up a larger percentage of the draft-age population.
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