In a polemical column, Erel Lachmanovitz criticizes comments made about the national religious sector by public figures and journalists, saying they were insulting and hypocritical. He cites Naor Narkis, who said in an interview with Neve Dromi about a week and a half ago that the national religious are a sector that dodges military service, and also made broader claims about alleged religious coercion in Israel and about national religious deaths in war being linked to the hesder track rather than combat participation.
Lachmanovitz says he expected provocative rhetoric from Narkis, whom he describes as trying to secularize the Jewish democratic state and win votes in the Democrats’ primaries and a seat in the Knesset. What he calls troubling, he argues, is that respected journalists repeated similar language. He quotes Niv Dvori saying, “They need to serve like everyone else, there needs to be a change and full equality on this issue,” and also, “In the end everyone comes through the IDF induction center, everyone is part of it, everyone is under the stretcher.”
He also cites Ben Caspit, who wrote, “Even the days of this old hesder arrangement must end. Full service for everyone.” Lachmanovitz says Caspit’s post also referred to both Haredim and national religious Jews, and that Dvori’s remarks were made alongside a screen caption mentioning Aryeh Deri boasting about his draft evader grandchildren.
The writer argues that the national religious public, which he says has the highest rate of combat and officer enlistment among all sectors, should not be the target when the IDF says it needs more fighters. He concludes that if such views keep spreading, the national religious community will discover that Israel sees itself as the Messiah, while the sector is left with the role of the donkey.
