Ultra-Orthodox Protest Conscription, 'Western Values' Remain Silent
Hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Israelis took to the streets of Jerusalem this week, decrying military conscription as a violation of their religious life. Mainstream media, including the FT, presents this as a singular event. Yet, this exemption — allowing Haredi men to forgo military service for religious study, while other Israeli citizens are conscripted — isn't new; it’s a decades-old
policy, periodically challenged but always reinstated, often by design. U.S. politicians, so quick to condemn 'pro-Hamas' protests on American college campuses, remain conspicuously silent on this internal exemption. Where are the cries of 'lack of shared burden' from those same voices who championed sending billions in U.S. taxpayer dollars for Israel's 'defense'? It's almost as if 'democratic
values' and 'shared sacrifice' only apply when it's convenient for Washington’s geopolitical agenda, not when it inconveniences the actual burden-sharing within the allied state.