The report produced by the Equal Burden Committee, chaired by Science and Technology Minister Yaakov Peri, has no teeth and is not an actual government decision. At most, it is wishful thinking. If the ripple of haredi integration into the Israel Defense Forces and workforce that is already underway continues to spread and if the economic situation worsens, the haredim will meet their enlistment quotas over the next four years, as is proper, but this is dependent on them. However, instituting mandatory enlistment for haredim starting four years from now is almost like selling plots of land on the moon. At this point, anybody can draw up a deed to a plot on the moon, but what value will it have once humanity actually starts moving there to settle? By 2017, Israel will have dealt with the challenge imposed on it of thwarting Iran's nuclear project. The Syrian civil war will have been decided dramatically, determining the fate of Hezbollah. The American initiative to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will either be surging forward or have crashed. And most importantly in regard to implementing the Peri committee's vision, the next Knesset will already be in place and it is unknown what the political map will look like. Right now, the new politicians are acting like old ones, dividing the pie amongst themselves and all emerging with a piece. Finance Minister Yair Lapid notched a propaganda achievement that enabled him to give his "Haim" and "Asher" speech. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also won because the report was moderate enough to not preclude the chance of him reconnecting with the haredim during the next round. Netanyahu knows the report has no value in the foreseeable future, which is why he pressured Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon to back down and treat the report as a negligible document. Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett, who verbally extols the idea of equal burden, returned home without a major accomplishment, but he was able to block the service of hesder yeshiva students from being extended to more than 17 months. Bennett can take comfort from Isaiah 8:10: "Take counsel together, and it shall be brought to nought, speak the word, and it shall not stand, for God is with us." However, the Peri committee's report is an expression of the public's awareness of haredi draft evasion. Next time, the new politicians who will replace the current rookies will have to commit even more to their voters.
