Your country needs you!
Despite being a libertarian, I’ve always been a big fan of national service. Serving in the army was a no-brainer because I knew it was the quickest way of being integrated into Israeli society. Of course, serving in the army isn’t all it takes. In many ways, I’m still out of place. But I still maintain that everyone should have to serve the country in some way. Male and Female, Religious and Secular, Straight and Gay, Ashkenazi and Mizrachi, Jew and Arab.
Yes, Jew and Arab. I understand that the perpetuation of the conflict means that Israeli-Palestinians aren’t going to be desperate to put on army uniform in the near future. But I do think they should be offered a parallel track of national service. This will have an extremely positive effect on the Israeli-Arab sector. It will enliven communities with the energy of youth, and it will provide a useful track for young Israeli-Arabs before they go into the labour-market.
So I’m gladdened by the news that Israeli-Arab interest in national service is on the rise. Around 1000 Arab teenagers are currently enrolled in national service programs; in 2005-6 there were less than 300. This is a noteworthy achievement, and I hope that the numbers will continue to rise.
They won’t rise, however, if there isn’t more investment in the program. Because of current budget restrictions, the National Service administration has announced that there is no more room. This isn’t the only important program that is threatened by the budget, and it’s still unclear how the negotiations will end. One can only hope that the importance of these grass-roots programs will be recognised, and that the money to support them will be found.
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This is something that is necessary too in the Haredi secotr. I think it can only improve ‘life’ here.
Not only does money need to be found in order to support these programs, they need to be made mandatory for everyone who, for whatever reason, cannot, or does not serve in the army already.
I’m glad to hear that Arab-Israeli youngsters are stepping up and breaking the cycle of “you don’t get to be ‘shve zchuyot’ because you’re not ‘shve chovot’”.
That’s one in the eye for the likes of Lieberman, and kudos to these young people for being adults about it, since the majority of Israeli adults start acting like three-year-olds whenever the subject comes up.
Fingers crossed that the program pulls through.
(PS As for the haredim – into the proper army with them. They have no conflict of interest to argue, only despicable and parasitic entitlement)
Why do we need armies anyway? All this militarization of Israel is like giving a hand to more and more violence and warcrimes!
I think any decent people should refuse to serve in IDF!
I believe all countries should require some sort of national service from all of their citizens, full stop.