My reflection of the IDF refusers number to the US was to give an idea of what this number means to Israeli society.
The population of Israel is about 6 million but the IDF is selected from the Jewish population only. Arab Israeli citizens -- about 1 million -- are not required or encouraged to serve in the military. The population of the US is 300 million. Multiply the refusal number by 60.
1,699 military refusals to serve in Israel is significant. If 100,000 American troops defected in an American war, the American public would consider the war lost.
The number of IDF refusals to serve in Occupied Palestine represents an acute embarrassment to the State of Israel. It is an indication that the war against Arabs is lost, an imperative to make peace if Israel is to survive as anything other than a beleaguered society continuously fighting a losing war. Isn't there more to life and to society than this? This is supposed to be some kind of reckoning for 6 million Jewish deaths in the 1940's?
This is a very active subject for debate in Israel. But not here. Not here where the wherewithal to continue the devastating war comes from. Not here, thanks to the right-wing Israel lobby -- which doesn't even truly represent American Jews who voted 87% for liberal Democrat policies in the recent election.
No, here in America, all we ever hear about is that there is no alternative to the losing war, that Israel has no choice but to fight otherwise the Arabs will drive Israel into the sea. Here we never hear about the numerous Arab offers to negotiate a peace.
It do make you wonder, don't it?
Who is benefitting from this misbegotten war in the Middle East? Certainly not Israel.
My reflection of the IDF refusers number to the US was to give an idea of what this number means to Israeli society.
The population of Israel is about 6 million but the IDF is selected from the Jewish population only. Arab Israeli citizens -- about 1 million -- are not required or encouraged to serve in the military. The population of the US is 300 million. Multiply the refusal number by 60.
1,699 military refusals to serve in Israel is significant. If 100,000 American troops defected in an American war, the American public would consider the war lost.
The number of IDF refusals to serve in Occupied Palestine represents an acute embarrassment to the State of Israel. It is an indication that the war against Arabs is lost, an imperative to make peace if Israel is to survive as anything other than a beleaguered society continuously fighting a losing war. Isn't there more to life and to society than this? This is supposed to be some kind of reckoning for 6 million Jewish deaths in the 1940's?
This is a very active subject for debate in Israel. But not here. Not here where the wherewithal to continue the devastating war comes from. Not here, thanks to the right-wing Israel lobby -- which doesn't even truly represent American Jews who voted 87% for liberal Democrat policies in the recent election.
No, here in America, all we ever hear about is that there is no alternative to the losing war, that Israel has no choice but to fight otherwise the Arabs will drive Israel into the sea. Here we never hear about the numerous Arab offers to negotiate a peace.
It do make you wonder, don't it?
Who is benefitting from this misbegotten war in the Middle East? Certainly not Israel.