Monday, January 21, 2013

Yair Lapid - Thoughtless & Clueless Part 2

I may be picking on Lapid a bit. But he is representative of this new wave of center-left Israeli politicians who are mistakenly driving Israel to sectionalism  nativism, and ultimately civil war. Lapid's compromise on Army service is the Ultra-Orthodox dream.

Right now, Israeli-Arabs and Ultra-Orthodox Jews army deferrals exist outside of the law. The Israeli supreme court deemed racial/ unequal deferrals to be illegal.

Lapid has a grand compromise - create an national service track for these groups of citizens and keep them separate from the main.

His faulty logic is that by keeping these groups separate it will magically lead to their integration.

What he seems to not comprehend, is that if his compromise is agreed upon, it will codify and enshrine in law the lack of army service for the ultra orthodox and Israeli arabs.

I have 2 children. My religious brother has 8. It appears, based on the current trend and systems and compromises,  likely that my 2 children will do the army while my brother's 8 will do national service.
It may not work out like that, but it's an example of what happens daily in Israel. One group's children goes to the army, others do not.

I don't want that discrimination enshrined in law.

And I don't want the Arabs and Haredi citizens of Israel to be classed as 'other' to be enshrined in law.

Think of popular sovereignty in the US, think of Dredd Scott, think of of all the compromises that ultimately enshrined slavery legally until only a civil war could reset the legal clock.

Lapid's compromise is the express train to civil war in 50 years.

Compromising on discrimination is no compromise at all.

1 comment:

Jason said...

You are 100% correct!