Following the recent disclosure that the IDF chose not to
draft more than 100,000 Russian immigrants, the question was
raised: If these immigrants are not drafted because the army
has no need for additional soldiers, or lacks the resources
to draft them, why are the politicians making such a fuss
about the yeshiva students?
The answer to this question was given some six months ago by
the former head of IDF Manpower Department General Yoram
Yair.
The very day that the High Court made its decision regarding
the yeshiva students, Yoram Yair was interviewed by Israel
Army Radio station, Galei Tzahal. The interviewer
mentioned that many people had called the High Court's
decision "historic," and asked him if he agreed with the
assessment. Yoram Yair replied: What I heard today in the
wake of the High Court's decision were more in the realm of
slogans and verbiage, and did not deal with the true
problem.
"The true problem is that for a number of years, Israeli
society, including the Knesset and the army should have
grappled with the issue of the prospective army recruits.
This is because there have been certain developments, such as
the massive immigration from the CIS, the decline in security
needs due to the peace with Jordan, and the agreement with
the Palestinians.
"The pool of draftees is small, and for approximately 4-5
years, or even a bit more, the army has suffered from a
surplus of soldiers, in the service and administration
branches.
"The army asked already about five or six years ago `What
should we do? What do you want us to do?' There are all
sorts of possibilities. One is to shorten the stint, the
second is to conduct selective service. There are many
things. The political aspect, which is linked to the
dissension between the chareidim and the secular over the
conscription of bnei yeshiva, is a political battle
and not particularly linked to genuine needs."
The interviewer asked: "The argument didn't begin today, but
has been going on for a number of years."
To this Yoram Yair replied: "I recall the period in which the
security burden on the army was much greater, such as during
the Yom Kippur War and the War of Attrition, when 80 percent
of the reserve corps was called up, and not 20 percent like
now. But at that time we didn't gripe about the yeshiva
students."
"The issue then wasn't number one on the public agenda.
Today, it is of prime interest due to the different
circumstances which prevail, especially the contention in
Israeli society, where everyone squabbles over everything
under the sun."
Yoram Yair added that the situation in the army is such that
every additional non-combat solider, who joins a service or
an administrative division of the army, only increases the
surplus.
Yair even rejected the question of the interviewer regarding
"equality" in the distribution of the burden. There was
never equality in this aspect of military service. Why do you
ask only about yeshiva students? Today there are soldiers who
serve in Lebanon and do a three -- year combat stint. They
constitute 20 percent or less of all of the soldiers in the
army. "Eighty percent of the soldiers serve in the
rearguard, and half of them in the large cities, where they
work or study in the university in their free hours, while
their colleagues don't manage to do this. The combat reserves
soldiers serve a month or 25 days a year, and they constitute
only 20 percent of the entire reserves corps in the country.
"Eighty percent don't even serve one day, or barely serve at
all. There is no equality in this entire story, and no fair
division of the burden," Yair said. "Nor can there be."
