The prolonged war has shattered the illusion that things can continue as they are in Israel. The refusal of the ultra-Orthodox to serve in the military is simply the most visible symptom of a wider sickness: the broken system in which this entire sector lives on the backs of others; an economy that neglects the periphery; a democracy that lacks a constitutional foundation; and a political class typified by mendacity, mediocrity, and malfeasance.
But in crisis, seek opportunity. The shock of the war and the shared sacrifice of those who serve can lay the foundation for a political realignment that unites the secular, the national-religious, and those in the center under a banner of responsibility.
It would be a national catharsis and a deeply necessary course correction from the ossified and dysfunction dichotomy between the Left-Arab bloc and the Right-religious one.
There is no reason for secular liberals to be cut off from their religious brethren, and similarly, no reason for all observant Jews to be forever tethered to fanatics. New thinking is needed.
Let’s begin with the status quo between the state and the haredim. Their draft exemption, a once-minor concession that has metastasized into a national scandal, began in 1948 when prime minister David Ben-Gurion excused a few hundred Torah scholars from service in a bid to reconcile with the ultra-Orthodox community after the Holocaust. The seeds of ruin were sown in 1977 when prime minister Menachem Begin, in need of coalition partners, expanded the exemption to all yeshiva students.
The disastrous consequences are now impossible to ignore because the haredi birthrate – itself incentivized by unsustainable and unwise policies – is triple that of the general population, meaning that the sector, now a sixth of the population, is exploding. With the IDF stretched thin, Israel cannot continue absolving – with its seminary students receiving stipends instead of paying tuition – while others are forced to bear the burden.
This is not just a military issue; it is an economic and social crisis.
The ultra-Orthodox education system fails to provide boys with even basic instruction in math, science, and English, leaving graduates wholly unprepared for participation in Israel’s hi-tech economy. Male haredi participation in the labor force participation rate is at only 50%, with many employed in state-funded religious institutions. Their economic footprint is minimal, and their dependence on welfare, from child subsidies to tax breaks, is enormous. Due to their parties’ leverage over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, they receive ever-expanding budgets – this is happening now as he labors to keep them on board.
As the community grows, this places an unbearable burden on those who work and serve – which includes Mizrahi Jews in the periphery who have historically been overlooked and underfunded. Places on the periphery such as Sderot, Beit She’an, and Dimona have been long neglected, their schools left behind while haredi institutions flourish.
With incomes a fraction of what they are in Tel Aviv and their communities’ secular state-funded schools chronically underfunded through neglect and indifference, many Mizrahi families have turned to haredi schools, and a whole new haredi sector has arisen. Many know this is a path to nowhere and would be open to change.
Dismantling and investing
A future government must dismantle the incentive structure created for the ultra-Orthodox while embarking on massive investment in Israel’s periphery – prioritizing education, infrastructure, and economic opportunities.
The injustice is glaring, and frustration boils over. The Supreme Court has already ruled that draft exemptions cannot continue without explicit legislation, and an attempt to enshrine them will likely be struck down as unconstitutional.
More than 70% of Israelis support drafting the haredim. The religious Zionist sector, which views itself as fulfilling a national duty, is starting to feel betrayed by its haredi counterparts. Israel’s longest war has deepened these fissures, as secular and national-religious Israelis fight shoulder-to-shoulder while others shirk.
A ‘coalition of the serving’
Uniting secular Israelis, national-religious Zionists, and the moderate Right around a platform of responsibility and fairness has the potential to break up the disastrous coalition propping up Netanyahu.
Such a new coalition could tackle perhaps the most fundamental problem: Israel’s lack of a constitution. The absence of a clear legal framework allows every policy issue to devolve into endless battles, eroding public trust and deepening divisions.
A proper constitution would enshrine basic principles of liberal democracy, protect against the overreach of both the judiciary and the executive, and, combined with a more workable electoral system, prevent coalition blackmail by minor parties. Without it, Israel will continue lurching from one crisis to the next, its democracy weakened by constant infighting.
It’s true that the new coalition will have many disagreements – but the profundity of the moment might focus minds, and the legitimacy gained by its breadth will help sell the needed compromises.
Sadly, disagreements on the Palestinian issue may be too big to handle. I would still advise decisive moves – for example, dismantling the settlements deep inside the West Bank “in exchange” for the annexation of areas close to the border to create a future separation map. But it’s possible that for the next few years, the most that can be hoped for is not compounding the damage through enhancing settlements and provoking the Palestinians.
Who should be the leaders?
Former PM Naftali Bennett should run separately, representing the Zionist religious and moderate Right. A broad centrist party must also emerge, one that considers new leadership beyond the exhausted figures of Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid, who failed so miserably in the 2022 election.
Former military chief Gadi Eizenkot, Avigdor Liberman (who is, like Shimon Peres before him, a former defense, foreign affairs, and finance minister), and Yair Golan (outspoken former deputy military chief) are all excellent options. New figures should join politics.
What is certain is that such a coalition would immediately raise the quality of governance by removing the incumbent assemblage of ex-cons, fanatics, and grasping apparatchiks. It would be able to professionally tackle other serious topics, like the epidemic of deadly crime in the Arab sector.
It’s critical that this occur. The Netanyahu-led bloc is dismantling Israel piece by piece. Its reckless policies, appeasement of extremists, and prioritization of power over patriotism have set the country on a path toward self-destruction. If it remains, Israel will soon find itself unrecognizable: its economy faltering under the weight of unsustainable subsidies; its military hollowed out by unequal service obligations; its best and brightest seeking opportunities elsewhere. This decay and attribution will embolden enemies and invite attack.
In the next election, Israel can reverse course.
Such a dark moment can obscure the prospects of a better day, but there is a plausible scenario in which new leadership champions equal service, economic independence, investment in the underprivileged, and constitutional reform. The positive impact – including on Israel’s place among the nations – would be electrifying.
It would be, mainly and at last, a light unto the Jewish nation.
The writer is a former chief editor of the Associated Press in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, former chairman of the Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem, and author of two books about Israel. Follow him: danperry.substack.com.