MK Uri Maklev (UTJ) raises an interesting question (though this is not the first time it has ever been raised).
The government is working to pass the new Haredi IDF Draft bill. The government has a slim majority, and that majority includes the potential votes of the members of the RAAM party.
MK Maklev said to the RAAM Mks that they have no moral right to get involved in the draft law and vote in favor of it.
Presumably his problem with the government relying on RAAM to pass this law is that the Arabs also mostly do not serve in the army, so how dare they get involved in telling other people that they must serve!
I do think that any law setting the rules of service for Haredim should also have set the laws of service for Arabs. It is a similar problem for Israeli society. The only difference is that the State might not want most of the Arabs to serve due to potential questions and concerns of dual loyalties. Some surely can, and do, serve but passing a law requiring all Arabs to serve has always been a recipe for disaster. It is wrong to solve one problem and let the other linger, when they are very similar problems. If not in the same law, another law should be worked on to solve that problem at the same time.
And let's not forget, this law (whatever the final version of it might be) is really for the benefit of the Haredi community. Right now they are obligated by law to serve just like everybody else. The fact that they do not is by the grace of goodwill, not by law. The draft law will finalize into law the granting exemptions and deferrals based on Torah learning.
The question raised by Maklev is twofold, I think.
1. can or should members of Israeli society butt in on issues not directly relevant to them? Should Arab MKs participate in the passage of laws regarding other sectors not relevant to them? Should Haredi MKs participate in the passage of laws to sectors of Israeli, Jewish or Arab, society not relevant to them? Should secular MKs not participate in laws relevant to the Haredi or Arab community?
Can the Arab MKs vote on the kashrut reform that is not relevant to them? can they vote on the conversion reform that is not relevant to them? at least in these other reforms they are not plagued by the same unresolved issue, but it still is not relevant to them.
I personally think it is the responsibility of the Knesset Member, the lawmaker, to be involved in shaping all of Israeli society. They have to be careful to not be hypocritical and and not pass laws for other sectors that they would refuse to have passed for their own sectors, but it is the responsibility of all lawmakers to be involved in the shaping of Israeli society.
Additionally, when the Haredi MKs try to get Arab MKs to vote alongside them, their involvement is ok, but when the Arabs plan to vote against them then they must stay out? When do they have the right to participate and when not?
2. The question of the Arabs voting on something they themselves are derelict on is a problem. How can they vote on Israeli Jews going to the IDF when they themselves do the same? Is it somewhat hypocritical to vote in favor? Perhaps, but being hypocritical is no rarity in politics - sometimes parties are required to vote according to party and/or coalition discipline even if the issue is one they independently think different about.
These are questions Israeli society needs to discuss and answer. It isn't something to be determined just by the person looking to gain from it.
------------------------------------------------------
