The committee on equal sharing of the burden, tasked with reforming haredi (ultra-Orthodox) enlistment into the Israel Defense Forces, has adopted the direct opposite of the classic Olympic motto. Committee Chairman Yaakov Peri (Yesh Atid) and his friends are proposing a method for enlisting haredim that is "slower, lower, weaker." And still, it is a first step in the right direction. It just needs a lot of improvement. When the committee submitted its draft proposal on Thursday, the issue, which had sparked a public debate on drafting the haredim into the IDF and to national service programs, turned into an integrity test for the various political parties. The parties have to address the committee's proposal, but are doing everything in their power to avoid it like a hot potato. There is no doubt that the problem of haredi service is a central issue, but it is not the only problem in this arena. Why are Israel's Arab citizens granted a blanket exemption from serving? What about the borderline scandalous exemptions given to anyone in the general, secular public who can provide a draft dodging note from a mental health officer or a psychiatrist? There is nothing preventing the Peri Committee from continuing its work and addressing all these issues as soon as possible. But the need for this type of work shouldn't delay the recommendations on how to remedy the mass haredi evasion of national responsibility. At this point there are solid recommendations, and if they are found to be worthy they should be implemented without delay, even if there are still additional unsolved issues that need to be resolved. It is now, however, that the parties are revealing their meekness. Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman wants to cultivate a good relationship with the haredim, and retreated from fighting to enlist them on the pretense that any enlistment law should include Arab citizens as well. Even more disappointing was the normally value-driven Housing Minister Uri Ariel of Habayit Hayehudi, who parroted Lieberman's mantra. He opposes a haredi draft without an Israeli-Arab draft alongside it, even though the current haredi draft dodging has an extremely adverse effect on his constituency -- the national-religious population -- whose youth regularly volunteer for IDF combat units. The logical, yet insulting,, conclusion is that the haredim have infiltrated Habayit Hayehudi. If they have not launched a hostile takeover, then they have at least introduced their hostile influence. Habayit Hayehudi Chairman Naftali Bennett and Ariel and all the other party figures who appeared to be knights of a new kind of politics are turning out to be just like the old political wheeler-dealers. They have failed their first public test. If Yisrael Beytenu and Habayit Hayehudi are turning their backs on the haredi draft, how can anyone complain about the other parties? But still, where is Likud? Why is Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon protecting haredi draft dodging on the pretense that Arabs also need to be drafted? And where is the entire Likud leadership? Why aren't they fighting for equality in sharing the burden? Everyone has suddenly come down with a severe case of the right to remain silent. Unfortunately, the official opposition has also been infected. Opposition Leader Shelly Yachimovich feels that the issue of equality in sharing the burden is not of interest to voters. Perhaps she hopes that Labor's hesitation to remark on the issue will cement her future coalition with the haredi parties. And this issue is far from Meretz's concerns to begin with. The Peri Committee recommendations represent the least possible action that can be taken to preserve the integrity of the political system. If even that can't be implemented, then everyone -- coalition and opposition alike -- deserves a vote of no confidence.
