Citizens' Army Resonates

Jerusalem
oday, most Americans' knowl-
edge of war is second hand,
culled from television, news-
papers, films and the occasional book.
The Israeli experience could not be
more different: The Israel Defense
Forces (IDF) is a citizens' army, corn-
prised primarily of 18- to 21-year-olds
performing their mandatory service
and reservists on active duty until age
36. With the exception of limited
numbers of ultra-Orthodox students
and those deemed physically or psy-
chologically unfit, all Israeli Jews are
expected to serve. Indeed, along with
voting, speaking Hebrew, and keeping
abreast of the news, army service has
always been a crucial part of Israeli
society — a basic component of
"Israeliness."
The nature of the IDF, then, makes
it nearly impossible to imagine a sce-
nario in which, should Israel's exis-
tence once again be threatened by a
coalition of hostile armies, a majority
of Israelis remain at home, watching
the conflict unfold on TV. Yet this is
precisely the scenario envisioned by
some Israeli experts, who have recent-
ly proposed abandoning the notion of
a citizens' army altogether.
They suggest that Israel phase out
the draft, deploy professional troops,
and outsource logistical support —
food, supplies and transportation —

T

Michael Oren, who served as a para-

trooper in the Israeli army, is a senior
fellow at the Shalem Center in
Jerusalem. A longer version of this article
appears in the current issue of Azure

www.azure.org.il

reserve duty had been phased
to international security
out, Israel would find itself at
corporations.
a loss to meet the challenge:
This scenario would have
Re-imposing conscription is
been unthinkable during the
politically difficult in a
first five decades of Israel's
democracy, and rebuilding a
existence, when the IDF was
competent reserve force
viewed as both the guarantor
takes time.
of the country's physical sur-
Moreover, the picture of
vival and a central pillar of the
MICHAEL
Israelis' willingness to serve is
Zionist mission of empower-
OREN
more complex than is often
ing the Jewish people. Over
Special
the last decade, however, the
Commentary thought. At the beginning of
Operation Defensive Shield
ideological foundation of the
in April 2002, for example,
IDF — and, with it, Israelis'
the response to the reserve call-up
willingness to serve — has been erod-
exceeded 100 percent; even those no
ed by the divisive conflicts in Lebanon
longer on active-reserve rosters
and the territories, increasing numbers
reported for duty. The reason is clear:
of exemptions granted to religious stu-
A citizens' army has much more at
dents, and Israel's cultural shift from
stake in maintaining the nation's
collectivism to individualism.
security and will bring far more
The nature of warfare — and of
motivation to the battlefield when
Israel's enemies — has also changed.
the country is attacked. A profession-
Following the elimination of Saddam
al force cannot be expected to defend
Hussein's Iraqi army, the aging of
the country with the selfless passion
Syria's arsenal, and peace treaties with
that carried the IDF to victory in
Egypt and Jordan, the immediate peril
1948, 1967 and 1973 and which
to Israel's security now comes from
more recently has battled Palestinian
terrorist cells in the West Bank and
terrorism.
Gaza and Tehran's missiles. As a result,
fewer than 60 percent of today's eligi-
Military Melting Pot
ble Israelis complete their mandatory
But beyond strategic damage, propos-
military service, and only 12 percent
als to do away with the citizens' army
do reserve duty.
pull hard at one of the pillars of Israeli
Yet calls to do away with the citi-
democracy. The classic image of the
zen's army are breathtakingly short-
IDF as "melting pot" is far more true
sighted. This is, after all, the Middle
than is fashionable to believe, as evi-
East: It does not take much imagina-
denced by the mass absorption of Jews
tion to envision a sudden change in
from Ethiopia and the former Soviet
the region — an Islamic revolution in
Union in the last decade.
Egypt, for example — which would
Indeed, more than any Western
once again place massive, hostile
country, Israel is threatened by the
divisions on Israel's borders. If that
sheer size and diversity of its immi-
were to happen, for example, after

grant communities, and only the IDF
has proven strong enough to counter-
balance this force.
In an otherwise polarized society,
the army is the one place in which
Israelis from all walks of life — reli-
gious and secular, dove and hawk, rich
and poor — join in common cause.
Finally, the continuous flow of
civilians into the ranks of the IDF
helps prevent the emergence of a
military caste whose values might not
reflect those of society at large.
The ability of the IDF to display
unusual levels of sensitivity to civilian
casualties throughout nearly six
decades of almost uninterrupted war-
fare is due in large measure to its
character as a citizens' army.
These concerns may not be
decisive in other Western societies.
But for the Jewish state, a citizens'
army is indispensable. After nearly
2,000 years of statelessness, the Jews'
hard-won ability to defend them-
selves represents nothing less than a
return to an active role in history.
Israel should think twice before
relinquishing that role.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud
party who oppose his plans to with-
draw from the Gaza Strip, even
though a majorit-y of Israelis and
Israel's military establi,shment sup-
port the move. A historical look at
Likud party- ideology explains why.

EMEND 'Y EE ISSUE

future in a democratic way.
Outside the country, good things are
happening. The U.N. has been shown
up for what it is: the biggest obstacle
to peace in the world.
Thanks to members of the U.S.
Congress, the oil-for-food scandal will
not go away. The millions diverted to
support suicide bombers will make it
difficult for the U.N. Secretary-
General Kofi Annan — the do-noth-
ing who watches millions dying in
Darfur at the hands of roving Arab
murderers out to steal the land of
black Africans — will soon join the
list of the unemployed.
In Iraq, democratic elections are

under way, showing the entire Islamic
world that they don't have to live
under murderous dictatorships that
steal their country's resources and pro-
vide heartbreak and poverty and fear
in exchange. We could have gone the
appeasement way, the way of Germany
and France, but we didn't.
Americans decided the fate of the
world not by a narrow margin but by
millions of votes to stay the course.
And although it was the Republicans
they voted for, what they were sup-
porting was a cherished American
ideal that the Democratic Party once
epitomized.
After the Pearl Harbor attack, (in

which there were fewer deaths than in
the Sept. 11 attack) America decided
to take away the security of the
Japanese enemy that their cities and
people were too far away to experience
any retaliation. Within two months of
Pearl Harbor, the U.S. bombed Japan.
But wars don't last forever, and nei-
ther does violence and bloodshed.
I have hope that our determination
to win this fight against the enemies of
mankind will result in a peaceful
world for our children and grandchil-
dren.
A new wind is blowing, and there
is reason to hope in the air — for
everyone.

Former Israeli Minister of Justice
and Likud party leader Dan
Meridor explained recently that
Sharon's plan is the result of a stark
choice by officials to abandon a key
party tenet. Party leaders realized
that their historic Jewish claim to
all of the West Bank and their com-
mitment to a democratic society
with a Jewish majority could both
not be maintained in the face of a
growing Arab population in Gaza
and the West Bank which is denied
Israeli citizenship.

Allan Gale, Jewish Community
Council of Metropolitan Detroit

12/17
2004

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