Israel heeft idealisten en mensen die bereid zijn een - soms zeer zwaar - offer te brengen voor het welzijn en voortbestaan van hun land, meer nodig dan veel andere landen, zoals Israel ook meer afhankelijk is van steun in het buitenland dan andere landen. Een organisatie die oproept dienst te weigeren zonder een alternatief als sociale dienstplicht voor te stellen, is dan ook te verglijken met een organisatie die oproept de belasting te ontduiken.
RP
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Israel needs idealists
Army or national service is indeed a sacrifice, but Israel won't exist without it
Israel needs idealists
Army or national service is indeed a sacrifice, but Israel won't exist without it
Adi Dvir
Published: 09.21.08, 18:14 / Israel Opinion
Published: 09.21.08, 18:14 / Israel Opinion
Recently I had the eye-opening experience of speaking to a "pacifist" who informed me that armies were bad. For this reason, she said, she had refused to enlist in the IDF, as it tended to perpetuate militarism and war – hence its inherent "badness."
Apparently many such pacifists exist in our country, and some of them are spreading their ideology online, as I discovered after reading about an organization called New Profile.
"We – a group of feminists including both women and men – know that we can live in a country without soldiers," New Profile states on its homepage. "Israel can devote itself to a policy of peace. It can stop being a military society." The site goes on to recommend draft dodging techniques, specifically underlining medical, psychological, and motivational issues that "decrease the applicant's value" in the army's eyes.
New Profile will soon be investigated on suspicion of incitement against the IDF, very deservedly, in this writer's opinion. However, in defense of the wayward group, one of its members said something thought-provoking. He argued that the organization was not responsible for spreading draft-dodging among Israeli youths, but rather, that it only assisted those who had already decided the army was not for them in escaping its clutches.
His words rang true in the sense that not everyone is cut out for military service, especially not in combat units. However, we must recall that the IDF's role far surpasses that of an army in the traditional sense of the word. In fact, the military in Israel constitutes a fundamental social force.
New Profile seems to have forgotten that aside from providing our country with much-needed defense against enemy nations that threaten us daily, it also provides many underprivileged youths with teachers, is responsible for sending volunteers to offer aid to humanitarian organizations, and even helps young musicians launch their careers (some of Israel's most memorable singers started out in one of the various IDF bands.) Even the nation's most popular radio station is brought to us courtesy of our men (and women) in green.
Aside from aiding society in general, the IDF teaches its soldiers social responsibility which, as many US university recruiters have admitted, makes them admirable candidates for scholarships abroad. In fact, the IDF education and experience may be one of the reasons that the number of scouts searching Israel's schools for MA applicants has hit an all-time high this year.
Screening policy
The IDF's role as a social mechanism in Israeli society is precisely why there should be no such thing as a "conscientious objector." Let those who prefer not to bear arms and man military outposts become teachers, tour guides, and environmental volunteers for a few years.
This would of course require the army's participation. The IDF needs to come up with a screening policy that would allow those not necessarily cut out for the type of military service that entails a commander yelling orders in your ear to contribute to society in other ways, without coercing them into something that goes against their nature. Enlistment for obligatory national service should be the only alternative for those who don't join the ranks of the IDF, and this should be enforced in all strata and sectors of society.
It seems to me that if New Profile is so adamant about assisting its followers in dodging the draft, the group should also be spreading the word about other ways in which youths can contribute to our country.
If they had provided links to volunteer organizations or national service programs' sites, I may have viewed them differently.
Anyone who lives in Israel must contribute to its wellbeing, and taking the draft-dodging or national service-dodging path, in this society, should be tantamount to a refusal to pay taxes. Israel has survived largely on idealism and sacrifice since its inception, and we have still not arrived at a point where we can sit back and allow ourselves to relinquish these ideals. Yes, the price is high, but it is the price we must pay to live here. This country cannot yet accommodate non-idealists. Those who refuse to contribute, in any way, should come back when we idealists have matters under control.
Apparently many such pacifists exist in our country, and some of them are spreading their ideology online, as I discovered after reading about an organization called New Profile.
"We – a group of feminists including both women and men – know that we can live in a country without soldiers," New Profile states on its homepage. "Israel can devote itself to a policy of peace. It can stop being a military society." The site goes on to recommend draft dodging techniques, specifically underlining medical, psychological, and motivational issues that "decrease the applicant's value" in the army's eyes.
New Profile will soon be investigated on suspicion of incitement against the IDF, very deservedly, in this writer's opinion. However, in defense of the wayward group, one of its members said something thought-provoking. He argued that the organization was not responsible for spreading draft-dodging among Israeli youths, but rather, that it only assisted those who had already decided the army was not for them in escaping its clutches.
His words rang true in the sense that not everyone is cut out for military service, especially not in combat units. However, we must recall that the IDF's role far surpasses that of an army in the traditional sense of the word. In fact, the military in Israel constitutes a fundamental social force.
New Profile seems to have forgotten that aside from providing our country with much-needed defense against enemy nations that threaten us daily, it also provides many underprivileged youths with teachers, is responsible for sending volunteers to offer aid to humanitarian organizations, and even helps young musicians launch their careers (some of Israel's most memorable singers started out in one of the various IDF bands.) Even the nation's most popular radio station is brought to us courtesy of our men (and women) in green.
Aside from aiding society in general, the IDF teaches its soldiers social responsibility which, as many US university recruiters have admitted, makes them admirable candidates for scholarships abroad. In fact, the IDF education and experience may be one of the reasons that the number of scouts searching Israel's schools for MA applicants has hit an all-time high this year.
Screening policy
The IDF's role as a social mechanism in Israeli society is precisely why there should be no such thing as a "conscientious objector." Let those who prefer not to bear arms and man military outposts become teachers, tour guides, and environmental volunteers for a few years.
This would of course require the army's participation. The IDF needs to come up with a screening policy that would allow those not necessarily cut out for the type of military service that entails a commander yelling orders in your ear to contribute to society in other ways, without coercing them into something that goes against their nature. Enlistment for obligatory national service should be the only alternative for those who don't join the ranks of the IDF, and this should be enforced in all strata and sectors of society.
It seems to me that if New Profile is so adamant about assisting its followers in dodging the draft, the group should also be spreading the word about other ways in which youths can contribute to our country.
If they had provided links to volunteer organizations or national service programs' sites, I may have viewed them differently.
Anyone who lives in Israel must contribute to its wellbeing, and taking the draft-dodging or national service-dodging path, in this society, should be tantamount to a refusal to pay taxes. Israel has survived largely on idealism and sacrifice since its inception, and we have still not arrived at a point where we can sit back and allow ourselves to relinquish these ideals. Yes, the price is high, but it is the price we must pay to live here. This country cannot yet accommodate non-idealists. Those who refuse to contribute, in any way, should come back when we idealists have matters under control.
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