March 4, 2012

Moshe Feiglin: Transition IDF to a Professional Volunteer Army

I was invited for an hour of relaxed, weekend conversation on the Nechama Duek Show on Radio Tel Aviv. At the beginning of the broadcast, Duek interviewed the “suckers” in the protest tent. These are the reserve soldiers, the self-proclaimed “pushovers,” unhappy with their reserve duty while many ultra-Orthodox men do not serve in the army. The anonymous sucker repeats the hackneyed mantras against the haredim, draft evasion, et al. It reminds me of a tasteless piece of gum that has been chewed here in Israel for 60 years; every so often somebody decides to blow a bubble and pop it. “Here we go again,” I say to myself. “The next hate-fest is upon us.”
I wonder who planned and funded this performance. Probably the same people who produced the haredi bus scandal, and before that the mosque burning scandal. After all, how would we possibly survive here without our monthly hate-fest?
The sucker keeps talking and Duek emotionally calls for all Tel Avivians to join with the suckers – now. She then turns to me and asks, “What is your opinion?” I take advantage of the opportunity to praise the settlers in Judea and Samaria, reminding the listeners that, among other facts, the settlers boast the highest percentage of enlistment. “Yes, but what about the haredim?” Duek asks. I then explain the solution. “A terrible idea!” Duek counters, and goes on to the next topic.
I will preface my proposed solution by saying that I always tell my children that when they turn on the radio to hear the news, they must first understand that they are actually hearing what the person who wrote the news thinks is the news and that what he decides will be on the national agenda.
Two days later, at 7 a.m., I turned on Channel 2 radio to Aryeh Golan. What is on the news? Yes, it’s the “pushovers.” The picture is clear: big money (probably from Europe), cynical strategists, tents, news editors, the High Court – and some pushovers for good measure.



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