At the same time that the chairman of the Labor Party is leading a
campaign to force yeshiva students to be drafted into the army, the
IDF is busy granting exemptions to soccer players.
Writing in Ha'aretz, Uriah Shavit, pointed out that the
Israeli youth soccer team was drafted into a special training group,
and that the date for its call-up was calculated to take into account
the majority of the games it was supposed to play.
During their service, it became clear that the "security needs"
of the army included taking the new recruits to soccer exhibition-games
in development towns.
"Everyone knows that the IDF can get along quite well without
the sportsmen (or musicians) who serve under better conditions,"
Shavit wrote. "Their conscription, like that of thousands of
others, is meant to preserve the concept of obligatory conscription
and people's army, only for the sake of appearance.
"During the past few years with the wholesale rise in draft exemptions,
this has lost most of its efficacy, to the point that many think that
its time to totally cancel obligatory conscription. But in the meantime,
there is no reason why the army should contribute to the lowering
of its status. To permit sportsmen to realize their talent is one
thing. To turn the army into an impresario for sports events is something
else.
"It's possible, too, to stop pointing to the development towns
as an excuse for the problematic sports productions. Sports teams
don't need the IDF as agents in order to appear throughout the country."
Shavit added, ironically, that judging by the number of spectators
(none to be precise), despite the free entry, and the broad coverage
given the game by the media, the youth team is apparently not a great
attraction.
Avid Fhorils of the local weekly, Jerusalem, also questioned
the drafting of soccer players, and while doing so pointed to the
lack of a need for conscription in general.
"Israel is the only country among the 20 developed countries of
the world which is still in a state of war with its neighbors. The
general atmosphere and public opinion, does not view those who do
not serve in the army favorably, no matter what reason they have for
their exemptions.
"Even one who does nothing but open the sprinklers in the sergeant-major's
garden at eight in the morning and closes them at four in the afternoon will,
at the end of his army service receive a discharge certificate noting
`a good, obedient soldier, liked by and respected by all.'
"The paratrooper who spent long months in Lebanon and the sprinkler-guy
will both receive certificates that they served in the army.
"Major General (res.) Amnon Shachak was asked recently about the
drafting of yeshiva students. Shachak didn't understand the fuss,
when today, more then 50 percent of the secular community does not
serve in the army. Fifty percent."
The writer attacked the practice of drafting "budding talents"
into the army, and pointed to startling examples of soccer players
who dodged military missions. He also discloses the corruption industry
that is woven between these solders and their commanding officers.
"I think that the military service of Israel's best sportsmen,
and the soccer players in general, borders, in the best cases, on
disgracing the army," Fhorils wrote. "That shameful do-nothing
atmosphere forces the military system to create all sorts of embarrassing
jobs for the surplus soldiers. Things have become so absurd, that
a certain outstanding soccer player brought his commander a medical
certificate saying that he was forbidden to rake leaves because he
is allergic to grass. Do you understand? A soccer player with an
allergy to grass. He got the exemption.
"The examples are preposterous. Soccer players serve in all sorts
of home service front jobs, such as supplying the kitchens with food,
and raising the flag in the morning. They also make all sorts of deals
with their friends, so that one raises the flag in the morning, while
the other lowers it at night.
"The disgrace continues in their relationships with their officers.
Those officers feel that they have power, and from there the path
to corruption is brief. An army of servants is being built here.
An entire industry of invitations to games, season ticket holders,
uniforms and training outfits are passed from hand to hand. All this
is done in order to make a good deal, to be discharged before the
end of one's service, or to be exempt from appearing at the base at
all."
He concluded by saying that the drafting of the youth soccer team
into the IDF as a group that undergoes special training should be
"the beginning of a different solution, which would entail a significant
shortening of their service to one year. In that manner, the army
will no longer be degraded, and when we become a normal nation, which
won't need the army as a springboard for loyalty and love of State,
the sportsmen will receive full exemptions."
Apparently the Israeli press is ready to admit that there is no need
for comprehensive conscription, and even understands that "budding
talents" should be given the opportunity to express themselves,
and should not go waste in the army due to more important "cultural
values."
But all this is worthy of appearing in a secular newspaper, only when
granting exemptions to those whose sole occupation is soccer is in
question.
