A minister in the Israeli government danced along to these words this past Saturday night: "We will die rather than enlist, and sanctify the name of heaven!
"We do not believe in the rule of the infidels and we will not show up at their offices," the orchestra continued to play, the revelers sang on, and the minister, beaming with joy, continued to dance.
The Israeli government is about to send draft orders to 400,000 reservists, many of whom will be serving their fourth and fifth reserve tours since the war began. Many of their families are falling apart, their businesses are collapsing and their academic years are going down the drain, and yet a minister in the government can be seen publicly, proudly dancing a dance of contempt, mocking the warriors who protect him and the state that funds him and his constituency.
Tens of thousands of reservists with families will spend Seder night in the army, and at the same time tens of thousands of single yeshiva students will sit down at the Seder table with their families as if there is no war going on. Tens of thousands of wives, children and parents will be unable to enjoy the holiday with their husbands, parents and children, while entire sectors of the country will celebrate the Seder as they do every year.
The dance and the sentiment it reflects may certainly make our blood boil, and hurt the families of the fallen, the wounded and all those who serve. And yet, even if we are to momentarily forgo expecting even the most basic expression of gratitude, my criticism of our Haredi brothers has its limits.
After all, they grew up completely differently from us. They were raised according to a different ethos. As children, they didn’t dream of being combat soldiers defending the Jewish People. It’s just wishful, unrealistic and frankly unhelpful thinking to believe that they will suddenly become Zionists. The truth is that our haredi brothers were simply not raised with the education or context to appreciate what it means to build, defend and maintain a Jewish state in our ancestral home.
How can Zionist MKs participate in the government injustice?
Nonetheless, how in the world can self-identifying Zionist Knesset members in the coalition participate in this injustice? How are Knesset members and ministers like Bezalel Smotrich, Ofir Sofer, Moshe Sa'ada, Dan Illouz, Moshe Solomon, Amichai Chikli, Avi Dichter, Nir Barkat and all the others simply fine going along with this?
How are they fine voting in favor of a budget that gives billions to a segment of the population that proudly, defiantly rejects any form of national service, while hundreds of thousands of our sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, father and mothers continue to serve, as countless families and businesses, collapse under the weight of it all?
How can they even look into the eyes of reservists and their families as they vote for a budget that unjustly and unethically continues to encourage mass draft evasion?
Do they actually think that a bit of a discount on movie tickets or a night at a hotel is what reservists and their families really need? Our reservists – many of whom have served hundreds of days already – need replacements. They need others to share the burden. Yet this government is doing just the opposite – as the finance minister and his cronies find more and more creative ways to facilitate draft-dodging.
Over the months I have begged the Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich and other coalition members to correct a long-standing injustice and transfer funding to IDF orphans and widows.
IDF orphans are simply forgotten by the state after they turn 21 and IDF widows who worked prior to losing their husbands are expected to go back to work as if nothing has happened.
For them, no budget can be found.
However, to encourage, incentivize and fund Haredi refusal to partner with us in the great mitzvah of defending the state? For that, there’s funding in the billions. Why? Because the coalition’s survival doesn’t depend on the votes of IDF orphans and widows, and so they are not entitled to funding from this government, yet those who refuse to serve in the IDF are… and they’re apparently entitled to lots.
A government of desecration.
Matan Kahana is a member of Knesset for National Unity. A retired Col., Kahana served as a combat soldier in Sayeret Matkal, and as a fighter pilot in the Israeli Air Force. He previously served as the Religious Services Minister in Israel's 36th governmment.