Ehud Barak has announced his plans to deal with the Draft Law. He calls the entire thing a bluff and being that none of the various attempts have worked, it is time to come up with a different approach.

Baraks approach is to break the strong connection between the Haredi parties and Netanyahu. He wants to be seen as solving the biggest problem for the Haredi parties - the draft law - and that will open the Haredi parties up to possible political arrangements besides for a coalition with Netanyahu. And Barak also thinks that this will effect a significant increase in Haredim joining the workforce.

Barak's new approach will have four stages:

1. The IDF will draft to fill its needs and whoever wants to serve will be drafted. The IDF salaries for soldiers will be increased to be "appropriate", whatever that means.

2. Everyone else, those who do not get drafted to the IDF, will serve in Sherut Leumi or Sherut Ezrachi - National Service or Civilian Service. This will include everyone who does not get drafted - Haredim, Arabs and anyone else.

3. The maximum possible number of Haredim will then join the workforce, including men and women.

4. There will be a respectable arrangement for a group the best Torah-learners and their tstaus will be "torasam umanusam" - torah is their trade. This will be in line with the tradition set by David Ben Gurion and in line with the Jewish commitment to tradition.


Barak's first step sounds almost like Feiglin's. Feiglin wants to cancel the draft law completely and make a professional army with a high salary that will be attractive for those who choose to serve. Barak seems to be saying something similar -  nobody HAS to serve, but a good salary will attract many to serve. He still insists it will be a "people's army", but I think that with no obligation and an easy out, he will end up being very surprised to see how few actually do want to continue giving up 3 years of their life rather than start university or travel.

Barak's second step seems to forget the fact that the mainstream Haredi public, and especially the leadership, is against Sherut Leumi as vociferously as they are opposed to real IDF service. Maybe he thinks they can brought to compromise on this in exchange for cancellation of the draft, but I dont see it happening.

Barak's third step seems to forget the recent study that shows the IDF service is not the impediment to joining the workforce that we all thought. Perhaps Barak disagrees, or maybe the results and analysis published were just one way to read the information but maybe it is not accurate. I dont know. I would not be surprised to see, should Barak win or end up in government (he says this will be a condition of his joining a government , not just if he becomes prime minister) and implement this, that he'll cancel the draft (if even possible) and the mainstream and majority of Haredi men will still not join the workforce, continuing to prefer the kolel life.

Barak's fourth step leaves open the question of who will decide which avreichim are the truly exceptional and how will it be decided. This is always the question in any proposal of a full exemption for the exceptional "few". Likely it will end up with those spots being given to the children and friends of rosh yeshivas and other haredi elite with protexia, rather than those who actually deserve it.

The one thing I do like about this is that he is making an attempt to try something new rather than rehashing all the old ideas...