Economic sanctions are enough for now
The extremist haredim from the Lithuanian sect -- who, to our great regret, hold sway in the Shas political party -- packed roads and junctions in protest on Thursday.
They were protesting two things: the High Court of Justice ruling to draft them, but mainly they are enraged at the decision, appropriately made by Finance Minister Yair Lapid, to freeze the transfer of public funds to draft dodgers.
The haredim are allowed to protest. They are even allowed to disrupt traffic to a certain point. The police's job is to stop or contain them. It appears the police response was effective and proportionate.
The Lithuanians should tread carefully. The haredi street is not tripping over itself to follow them, unless the police go off script and use too much force or the secular politicians, competing among themselves for the harshest rhetoric, inflame the situation. Any provocation will prod the moderate haredim to fall in line with the Lithuanians. Moderation is necessary.
The furious response by the haredim to the High Court and Finance Ministry decisions hints, seemingly, that no criminal sanctions against draft dodgers are needed. Certainly not the kind that would be immediately implemented upon the law's introduction, rather in the distant future, when there are no other options left. Indeed, the Finance Ministry's decision to turn off the flow of public funds has done the trick.
They will scream "gevald" and "Nazis" and will swear they prefer death to enlistment in the army -- but the initial decision to withhold a tiny sum was already enough to push them into the city squares. A persisting drought of funds will increase the pressure on them, although at a price of exacerbating their anger.
So, this is what they want; and if they want to clash directly with the rule of law; and if they are prepared to pay the heavy price they will be forced to pay by a public that is sick and tired of their draft shirking and by a police force losing its patience with -- then there will be no avoiding a physical confrontation that no one wants.
For many years already the haredim have known that such legislation would eventually be to their benefit; that the time has come for most of them to enlist and for all of them to join the workforce, with an exemption for the true Torah prodigies. The new law, which in three days will be presented to a parliamentary committee chaired by MK Ayelet Shaked (Habayit Hayehudi) for a vote, won't lead to an equal sharing of the burden. At most it will reduce the current levels of discrimination.
The responsible sects within the haredi public have been working in recent days to find a compromise that both sides can bear.
It's true, however, that they do not have the power to cast their influence over the radicals, who have recently turned toward the hostile approach employed by the Neturei Karta sect.
The moderate haredim, though, who seek cooperation with the Zionist state, overtly and covertly, will be relegated to the realm of irrelevance in their own public if the violent clashes in the city square become a daily occurrence in the coming weeks.
Prolonged and increasingly stormy protests against Israel's authorities are a source of anxiety for many in the haredi public. Many would not be happy about this type of development.
The law's final wording, to be approved by Shaked's committee and to be presented to the Knesset for a final vote, has not been written yet.
The Shaked committee, followed by the Knesset plenum, deserves to be able to vote on the law's final version free from the heavy pressure of the fiery demonstrations, which the public only caught a first glimpse of on Thursday.
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