Removing Remnants of Socialism - in Israel

Israel was founded by European Jewish intellectuals who — with only some exceptions — deeply believed in the power of great minds to order every element of society. In other words, they admired communism. Hence the national union, kibbutzim and moshavim, state-owned enterprises, and universal conscription to the armed forces.

Israel has retained much of this legacy. When I was a student there, I was forced to join the National Union of Israeli Students, despite my protestations. In the early 1990s, I was asked how we could homeschool without access to television. In Israel at the time, television and radio were the exclusive mouthpiece of the government. The Israeli questioner asked, without irony, "But without television, how will your children know what they are supposed to think?"

In many ways, Israel has liberalized since then — many fewer things are state-owned or controlled. The Unions are weaker. Kibbutzim and Moshavim basically failed. TV and radio now are dominated by the private sector. But the military... that is another story.

Israel has compulsory service for Jewish men and women, as well as Druze and Circassian men. Non-Druze Arab citizens of Israel (most Muslims, Christians, and Bedouins) are exempt from the draft but may volunteer. Thousands choose to do so.

Why? Because the army is the gateway to recognized citizenship within the country. Serving comes with a sense of fellowship, belonging, and automatic acceptance by society at large in myriad ways. Army service brings the country together, ensuring a sense of a shared mission.

Nevertheless, Israel is a huge exception: Orthodox Jews ("Charedim") usually reject assimilating with the rest of Israel. This is most prominently seen in their refusal to serve in the military. As Charedim are between 20% and 30% of the population, this is no small exception to the rule.

Israel is currently riven by the issue of whether the Charedim (and other dissenters) should be compelled to serve in the military. Both the defenders of universal conscription and the Charedim see the military not solely for national defense but as a tool to forge social cohesion, to ensure that everyone in that tiny country understands, at their core, the importance of unity under fire. But social cohesion comes with a lot of baggage: Should men and women serve together, even those from backgrounds where casual contact and immodest dress are not found? Should everyone be exposed to the same culture, even if they prefer to stay separated? The army even tells people how to think (like pre-1990s television). Should Charedim voluntarily acquiesce?

These questions are bringing down the current government. To make things worse, the vast majority of Israelis across the political spectrum, in their hearts, retain the answer of communists, socialists and all totalitarians: use any means necessary to make the other guys submit to the way we see it. There is no ethos of freedom at play here. Everyone wants to win, and to do it by publicly humiliating the losers.

To mix things up further, there is the possibility of going in a new direction. A professional army, replacing universal conscription. Here is a great summary of that argument. Such an army would be cheaper, more capable, and eliminate most of the tinder that is fueling this civil war.

Why has Israel not done this before? Because a professional army would end the founding dream within Israel of the army as the great social glue, the great collective unification of the people coming together to defend Israel against those who seek to exterminate the 19 million remaining Jews in the world of 8.5 billion people.

The challenge to Israel moving to a professional army is not economic or practical or even about effectiveness in battle. No, the challenge is about the country's foundational culture, and whether Israel needs to see itself as having a shared national mission with shared sacrifice spread across the entire populace. I can see the virtue in it, but I also think that it is time to shake loose those remaining socialist shackles.

The icing on the cake, at least to the military planners who are paying attention, is the growing realization that infantry (briefly trained foot soldiers) are becoming much less important. The Ukraine War has shown that drones (airborne as well as naval and ground) can in fact conquer and hold terrain. The robots are here, and they have performed everything from minesweeping to beach landings and armored assault inland. It means that if Israel has the drones (and the AI/software to make the most of them), the Israeli military will require a lot less manpower than before. There is no reason that future wars will require thousands of young men and women to be cut down in their prime. Perhaps that great sense of unity in combat will be undermined by the advent of drone warfare.

Inertia is powerful. Perhaps nothing will change, and the civil war will continue. But I very much hope otherwise.