The demonstrations against judicial reform in Israel have major implications for the Jewish state’s national security.
Since the return of the Jewish people to their ancestral and indigenous homeland, the overwhelming majority of Jews believed that, while they often disagreed, sometimes vehemently, the defense of the nation took priority.
In the lead up to the War of Independence, most of the Zionist paramilitary organizations understood the need to stand united under the command of the Haganah and then the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). After the sinking of the Altalena, the Irgun decided not to respond. Even during the painful disengagement from Gaza, the greater good of national security took precedence.
Now, however, the IDF has been placed on the firing line and used as a tool of protest. This is something Israel can ill afford.
Unfortunately, the ideological politicization of the IDF has been a long time coming.
For many years, Israel’s security and political leaders have spoken about the IDF as a social project, a “great leveler” of all parts of Israeli society and an incubator for its hi-tech industry.
The IDF is increasingly influenced by differing ideological agendas.
But the IDF is increasingly influenced by many differing ideological agendas. Some of these influences are certainly to be welcomed, but they cannot and should not replace the overwhelming aim of any defense force: to defeat its enemies.
Winning wars and conflicts should be the primary aim of the IDF, because unlike the U.S., Mexico, France and most other nations on Earth, the Jewish state is constantly under threat. The enemies who seek Israel’s defeat and destruction do not rest, let alone care about its internal politics or ideological differences.
It is also vital to point out that Israel’s enemies are taking stock of the current upheavals and see weaknesses they can exploit.
Israel’s enemies are taking stock of its current upheavals and see weaknesses they can exploit.
“For the first time since the creation of [Israel], we hear speeches from the entity’s president and former prime ministers ... along with former defense ministers and generals who talk about civil war and bloodshed,” Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah recently said during a speech. “God willing, [Israel] will not reach its 80th birthday.”
It was not long afterwards that an infiltrator from Lebanon was able to carry out a terrorist attack in northern Israel.
This is precisely why it is in everyone’s interest for the IDF to remain firmly outside any political or ideological debate.
Soldiers in uniform should not abuse their position to take a particular ideological stance. Reservists should not use their annual service as leverage in service of a political agenda.
If they do, then Israel will end up with half an army, its ideological makeup dependent on who is in political power at any given time.
Of course, this is an extreme scenario, but there are ominous signs that Israel is heading in such a direction.
Soldiers must not make their service dependent on whether they are happy with government policy.
If even a fraction of soldiers or reservists make their service dependent on whether they are happy with government policy or not, it could severely weaken the IDF.
Israel needs to create a new social contract among all citizens of Israel that ensures there will be no more refusal to serve, or even the threat of refusal to serve, on ideological grounds. That there will be no more mass petitions calling on people to boycott their annual military service. That there will be no more calls for the IDF to solve political problems.
The IDF must remain above the debate, however vehement it may be.
Soldiers have one job: To achieve the goals set by those above them. Military leaders and strategists have one job: To win wars and ensure safety and security for all Israelis.
Everything the IDF does should be in service of these goals. Anything else is an unnecessary and potentially dangerous distraction.
Even when tempers are frayed, and anger and resentment come from every direction, citizens of Israel must commit to creating a broad consensus that, above all, the IDF must be kept out of the political debate.
