Flat Tires. And... The Israeli Supreme Court Says that Ultra-Orthodox Men Must Serve in the IDF
Israeli Attorney General instructs Minister of Defence to draft 3,000 ultra-orthodox young men immediately.
Two weeks ago, I found myself on a remote kibbutz in the south, with a flat tire. It was the eve of a Jewish holiday – Shavuot – so everyone was celebrating somewhere. In fact, I was meant to be at a festive dinner too.
Long, very dramatic story short: Murad the miracle worker from the nearby Bedouin town of Rahat came to the rescue. My tire was fixed, I went to the party and returned late to Tel Aviv.
Two years ago, while driving in the Golan Heights in the middle of nowhere, I also got a flat tire. Didn’t have a spare. It was a holiday. Of course. Took forever to find someone with a tire who would come and sort me out. I vowed I would never be caught unprepared again. So immediately upon returning to Tel Aviv I bought a spare, put it in the trunk, and figured that was that.
Until I learned, on Erev Shavuot, that it was the wrong size. The tire guy scammed me two years ago. At least, that’s what the mechanic on the kibbutz said. Which is why we ended up in Rahat with Murad.
So, on Tuesday, I went to see the tire guy. He looked at the tire. “What - you expect me to remember this from two years ago? Where’s the receipt?”
Ok. It’s Tel Aviv. End of June. Totally gross. So hot and humid that the temperature doesn’t matter. Everything and everyone is wet all the time. And in that heated, middle eastern way, he’s waving his arms and expressing at high volume that I must come back with the receipts.
I’m still sick with the forever cold I picked up in Switzerland. Feeling crappy. Moving next week. (To a kibbutz in the south, near Sderot. More on that in future dispatches.) No clue where the paperwork for the freaking tires that I bought two years ago is at the moment. I just want everything to be fixed.
The Tire Guy pauses. You can feel everything change. He very calmly looks at me and says: “We all have our problems. My daughter is an officer in the IDF. Combat. She was in Gaza when the hostages were rescued two weeks ago.”
I suddenly felt very small.
Tire Guy sat down and told me what happened.
We are in his office. In a Tel Aviv tire shop. Lots of very loud electric fans are everywhere. Smells like – well – a tire shop. Just want you to share the full sensory experience with me.)
On Saturday, June 8, his 22-year-old daughter had been on a roof with two other soldiers covering for the hostage rescue team. We sat side by side, me and the Tire Guy, staring intently at a video on his phone. The footage came from the helmet cam of a Hamas sniper (who was killed in the operation). The film showed a red triangle – Hamas symbol that marks a target – sitting squarely on the chest of Tire Guy’s daughter, dead center, by her heart. She had been wearing a ceramic protection vest. Tucked into the middle of the vest, centimeters from her heart, was a grenade. Presumably, it was placed there for easy access.
The sniper aimed at the grenade. He was an excellent shot. He hit the target. But the grenade didn’t explode. “Miracle” does not begin to describe this. The bullet seems to have ricocheted. We watched it a few more times. I simply could not absorb what I was seeing so quickly.
She suffered a minor injury to one hand. She will be fine and return to active duty soon. Probably before my new spare tire arrives.
Also on Tuesday, the Israeli Supreme Court issued a long overdue and landmark ruling affirming that there is no legal reason preventing the ultra-orthodox male population in Israel from being drafted into the IDF for military service. Immediately.
“At this time,” the panel of nine judges concurred, ruling that ”there is no legal framework which allows differentiation between yeshiva students and others who are eligible for enlistment.”
This is seismic. PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government is dependent on ultra-orthodox support. Comprising 15% of the population, the haredim say that when the state was formed they were promised that they would be exempted from military service. In lieu of risking their lives to defend the country they would pray. And that, they say, is what has truly protected Israel, divine appreciation of their devotion, not military prowess.
Except that their rendering isn’t quite accurate.
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