Who Wants Airport Arrests?

You do, even if you don't realize it.

With summer vacation starting, many charedi yeshiva students in Israel will be traveling abroad. Those with Israeli citizenship are theoretically subject to arrest at the airport for draft evasion. So far this almost never happens, probably due to the current government’s reluctance to antagonize charedi politicians.

I think that most people in the Dati community would be very happy to see this happen, along with lots of other sanctions. Certainly I myself would want to see it happen, including to the Anglo-charedi yeshiva students from my neighborhood. This is even though I largely don’t blame them personally for draft evasion; they were brought up in, and are still surrounded by, a society which is opposed to civic duties.

If it sounds shocking to you that I would like to see the arrest of nice young boys who are my neighbors, then let me point out three things.

First, and most obvious, is that the strain on the rest of the population is too great to bear. Reservists are losing their careers, their family life, their mental and physical health, and their lives. We desperately need more soldiers. And this will not happen unless there are serious consequences for those who avoid serving.

Second is that in our community, if young men were to try to evade army service, they would certainly face such consequences. I am currently in the US for work purposes and a very much shortened vacation with my family, since my son is in army training and cannot travel; were he to try to do so, he would be arrested. These are the standards that apply to our community - of course we want them applied to charedim too. What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

But the third point to be made is that the charedi community itself wants draft-dodgers to be arrested!

This may sound counter-intuitive, but it is actually very easy to prove.

The majority of charedim are not delusional fundamentalists to the extent of believing that Israel should not be defended. They want there to be a competent army, to defend Jerusalem and Beitar and Kiryat Sefer and Ashkelon. Such an army, competent to defend the country, requires hundreds of thousands of trained soldiers. And there is no way that Israel could recruit such numbers without a mandatory draft.

Indeed, it was none other than a charedi MK, Meir Porush of United Torah Judaism, who made the official announcement last year that dati young men have to be pulled out of dati yeshivot early due to the IDF manpower shortage! And a mandatory draft obviously requires serious consequences for those who try to avoid it, otherwise it will be ineffective.

Charedim want there to be a mandatory draft that is enforced. They want draft-dodgers to face consequences serious enough to dissuade them from dodging. They just don’t want it to happen to their draft-dodgers, only to everyone else.