Israel Shocked to Discover War Requires Soldiers
France 24 highlights Israel's 'divided society' over mandatory military service for ultra-Orthodox Jews, presenting it as a problem emerging 'after two years of war in Gaza.' This framing conveniently omits that exemptions for the Haredi community have been a contentious political football for decades, routinely used by Benjamin Netanyahu's various coalition governments to secure power. For
example, Netanyahu himself, in 2014, pushed legislation to extend these exemptions, demonstrating a long-standing pattern of prioritizing political expediency over military equity, even declaring conscription for all 'unrealistic' back then. Now suddenly, with the Gaza offensive stretching resources, the issue is deemed critical enough to 'divide society.' One might wonder why a 'divided society'
over a fundamental tenet of state security only merits a headline when military needs are acute, rather than when the 'exempt' communities continue to receive significant state funding while others bear the burden. It appears the ethical quandary of shared sacrifice only bites when the human cost of (another) protracted military action starts to climb, not when the foundational inequality is
cemented through political deals.