Stop the incitement

As certain ultra-Orthodox (haredi) sects radicalize and escalate their fight against military enlistment, a wider analysis can actually provide an optimistic, positive outlook on the phenomenon. This is the rearguard battle being waged by a fanatical minority against a fundamental process of Israelization within haredi society. This process can be seen in the haredi public's increasingly patriotic approach and efforts to integrate into Israeli society and adopt its symbols as well as a marked increase in haredim joining the workforce, turning to higher education and even enlisting in the military.

Three decades ago it would have been impossible to even imagine violent attacks on haredi soldiers, as there were no haredi soldiers. Putting the rage over the haredi radicalization aside, it is worth reviewing this process in a wider perspective, which yields a much more positive picture.

This is in no way an effort to diminish the severity of the radicalization or minimize the dangers it poses. On the contrary. When fanatic groups on the fringes feel defeated they are often far more dangerous. The incidents we have been seeing recently, like demonstrations involving the burning haredi soldiers in effigy, could easily devolve into bloodshed unless the government comes to its senses and quashes these fanatic displays.

This ongoing radicalization does not just manifest itself in physical and verbal violence, but also in the very essence of the struggle. This is a violent fight against drafting haredi soldiers to the army, when in reality, haredim are largely legally exempt from compulsory conscription. As a matter of fact, the current government shelved, unfortunately, the Equality of Burden law (a laundered term, as it was still far from achieving social equality. Another problem with the name was that it presented the great privilege of serving our country as a "burden.") The law sought to curtail draft evasion, but instead ended up providing this very evasion a seal of approval.

Until recently, haredi men would arrive at the IDF Induction Center and receive an immediate exemption from military service, however after the Equality of Burden law was introduced, certain radical factions began to boycott the induction order, resulting in many arrests of young haredim on charges of desertion. Their protest is against these arrests, which they refer to as "coerced recruitment."

Namely, the rabbis of the extremist factions have prohibited their students from "abrogating the Torah" by arriving at the recruitment center for a speedy exemption, and instead sent them to abrogate the Torah by participating in violent demonstrations and rioting for days on end. Burning soldiers in effigy, blocking main roads, wildly inciting against IDF Personnel Directorate head Maj. Gen. Motti Almoz, and worst of all, launching severe, violent attacks against soldiers -- mainly haredi -- have all been included in their battle. Wandering into the heart of Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim neighborhood has become as dangerous as wandering into the casbah in Nablus.

The violent acts perpetrated against haredi soldiers began with name-calling ("hardakim" -- a derogatory term used within the haredi community to describe haredim who join the IDF), continued with shaming and public humiliation and has already escalated to physical violence and lynching attempts. All these desperate acts stem from a fear that increasing enlistment in the military could turn haredi soldiers into role models and heroes in the eyes of haredi youth.

Law enforcement authorities better wake up now and end this miserable phenomenon, including apprehending the extremists' leader, Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach, unless they prefer to wait until the first haredi soldier is murdered.

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