Posted on 06/12/2025 6:29:23 AM PDT by Redmen4ever
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-right government survived an opposition bid to dissolve parliament on Thursday...
(Excerpt) Read more at sbs.com.au ...
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/israel-ultra-orthodox-jewish-men-can-no-longer-avoid-military-service-supreme-court-rules/
The two ultra-orthodox parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism (UJT), threatened to join in the next no-confidence vote unless Netanyahu agreed to extend their exemption.
Netanyahu caved to their demands. Girls can be drafted, but not the ultra-orthodox.
The exemptions are very unpopular. Agreeing to extend them saves the day for Netanyahu, but puts him in a poor position for next year's regularly-scheduled election.
Hi Chajin, since when is being against exemptions from military service “anti-Israel”?
Naftali Bennett, who looks to be Netanyahu’s successor, was drafted. He served in an elite commando unit, commanding several operations behind enemy lines. After fulfilling his six years of obligated service, he remained in the reserves, eventually being promoted to major.
In fairness, I will mention that Benjamin Netanyahu was also a commando. I think he and Naftali served in the same unit, only in different generations. Both of those guys are off the charts brilliant and a son of a bitch in a dark alley.
We’re talking politics here, not patriotism. Bibi’s making a deal to hold on to power.
By American standards, Bibi is center-left; he’s Mitt Romney saddled with Evangelicals to get elected. A lot of Bibi’s opposition is personal rather than political.
America’s favorite stooge Naftali Bennett has to pretend to be to the right of Netanyahu to be taken seriously. Yariv Levin is the likely Netanyahu successor within Likud.
vote: 61 - 53, better than “surviving” in my book.
I don’t disagree with anything you say. My only visceral reaction was the perpetual description of anyone who in any other era would have been considered center-right to be “far right,” because anyone who isn’t Marxist/socialist has to be somewhere between Mussolini and Hitler.
I realize that there are limits to analogies; but, evangelicals are well-represented in the U.S. military.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1609216/us-religious-groups-by-military-service/
We are pro-U.S., not draft dodgers.
Nor do evangelicals rely on welfare to support their families, instead of going to work, the way the ultra-orthodox do.
Politics makes strange bedfellows and, at this time, Bibi is kind of stuck with the ultra-orthodox.
The matter of taxation is interesting. Bibi started out as a tax-reformer. The following is AI-generated:
During his first term as Prime Minister (1999-2001), Netanyahu implemented significant economic reforms, including raising retirement ages, liberalizing currency exchange laws, and attacking monopolies to increase competition. These policies, while credited with boosting the economy, also faced criticism as “Thatcherite” attacks on the social safety net.
It's me again. Since then, things have been static. Or maybe things have really changed. Labor - formerly a democratic socialist party, is no long a major party, but part of the one - relatively small left party among the Jews of the country.
Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party describes itself as a center party (but maybe is better described as a center-left party).
Then there are the anti-Netanyahu conservative and center-right parties (Avignor Leibermon’s Yisrael Beitenu and the National Unity parties).
So, the entire political spectrum has swung to the right.
It’s hard to be somebody actually disagrees with everything another person says (unless we’re talking about TDS).
But, you’re wrong. I agree with you that Likud should be described either as a conservative or a center-right party, and not as a hard-right party.
I notice you still haven’t come to grips with the conscription issue. Until you do, I’m not sure you actually disagree with me that this cave-in to the ultra-orthodox is a political matter as opposed to a patriotism matter.
I apologize, I see you say “don’t disagree” with what I say. You only made the point that the mainstream media mischaracterized Likud (which point, specifically, I agree with). Likud is a conservative or a center-right party, not a hard-right party. So, with a careful reading (or re-reading) we actually share a lot.
The issue of who gets drafted is similar to the draft issue that has occurred at least twice in our own history, in 1863 and in 1966, when a group of people were able to keep themselves from being drafted (in 1863 those who could pay someone else to take the draft spot, in 1966 those who could stay in college and let non-students be drafted).
We have had an exemption for those who claim religious reasons for not going into combat, but such people would take non-fighting roles in the military. It has never been a political lever here, however, meaning a party hasn’t allowed conscientious objection for a group in order to get their votes (e.g., Amish). It is evidently being used as a political level in Israel.
I hope that explains my position on the specific issue sufficiently.
Your position, too, is my position: the WWII standard. Those who claimed a religious exemption were assigned non-combat roles, often field medic.
Nobody could claim those guys were cowards.
Conversely, if the ultra-orthodox would just admit that they are cowards, the Bible provides them an exemption: Dt. 20:8
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