Israel Democracy Institute runs newspaper ads calling out Haredim for not serving in IDF
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
The Israel Democracy Institute runs advertisements patterned on ultra-Orthodox pashkeveils, or broadsheet posters, calling out the Haredim for refusing to enlist in the army.
The ads, which decry the “insult to the heroes of the army…who give their lives for the sanctity of God,” run in the Friday editions of national-religious newspapers Makor Rishon and B’sheva.
The IDI says such ads would not be accepted by ultra-Orthodox newspapers.
The use of this format and language echoing that of anti-enlistment posters used by the ultra-Orthodox “is another tool in our arsenal of tools, in addition to publishing data, in-depth studies and policy proposals, to deal with the issue of recruitment and equality of the burden,” says Shlomit Ravitsky Tur-Paz, head of the IDI’s Center for Shared Society, arguing that avoiding the draft contradicts an “honest interpretation” of the Torah.
The IDI is addressing the Haredim in the “language of the Torah and clarifying the urgent need for a new social contract, even at the cost of risking the coalition,” she says.
