Israel cannot demand unity while governing inequality - opinion
Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.
TLDR
- The article argues that Israel cannot demand national unity while governing with inequality, particularly regarding shared responsibility in defense.
- It highlights a crisis of shared responsibility, where a shrinking pool of citizens defends the nation while others are structurally exempt.
- The author, a Black Ethiopian Jewish Israeli, calls for fairness and covenant, stating that a society cannot endure with unevenly shared burdens and benefits.
Writing from the perspective of a Black Ethiopian Jewish Israeli, this opinion piece in The Jerusalem Post contends that Israel's demand for unity is undermined by its internal governance of inequality. The author argues that while the nation calls upon its citizens to fight, sacrifice, and endure uncertainty together, the governing systems treat them as unequal partners in this burden.
Israel is asking its citizens to fight together, to sacrifice together, and to carry the weight of war and uncertainty together, and yet it governs them as if they are not equal partners in that burden.
The core issue identified is a "crisis of shared responsibility." This manifests as a significant portion of the population being called up for reserve duty and facing the brunt of war and loss, while others are structurally excused from this duty, despite retaining influence over political power. This imbalance is presented not as a minor issue but as the "defining contradiction" of contemporary Israeli society, with warnings from military leadership about potential collapse due to manpower shortages underscoring the severity.
This is not a marginal imbalance. It is the defining contradiction of Israeli society today. That contradiction is no longer theoretical; it is operational.
The author, a Modern Orthodox Jew shaped by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks's moral vision, emphasizes that true covenant means carrying one another. The current situation is described as an "imbalance," where a society cannot sustain itself if responsibility is unevenly distributed while benefits are not. The piece concludes that Israel cannot expect unity during wartime if it maintains division in policy, nor can it ask one group to sacrifice while another negotiates exemption. The piece also notes the public's dissatisfaction with the uncertain outcome of the Iran war, with only 32% satisfied, signaling a broader unease reflected in the political landscape, where opposition parties are gaining ground.
IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir has cautioned that the army risks “collapsing in on itself” due to severe manpower shortages. This is not rhetoric. It is a red alert.
DistantNews Editorial
Originally published by Jerusalem Post. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.
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