Under the current government, the Israeli soldier has never had it worse. Compulsory service has been extended by four months, the length of reserve duty has been tripled, and the age for retiring from the reserves has risen by a year. Plus, any soldier abducted to the Gaza Strip is set to be the last released in a deal to bring the hostages home, if a deal ever happens.
All this is going on as the government pushes a bill to let the ultra-Orthodox dodge the draft, even though the army has lost over 10,000 soldiers who have been killed, wounded or impaired psychologically.
This raises two questions. First, why are people still agreeing to serve? Second, how long will they agree to serve in a situation that promises a war with no end in sight, without their ultra-Orthodox brothers serving alongside them, and when it's clear that if they fall into the enemy's hands, the chances of them returning are paltry.
The answer to the first question is easy: The ethos of military service is very strong in the Israeli mainstream because of the state and state-religious education tracks that sanctify this value. This ethos has strengthened since the massacre in the Gaza border communities on October 7, with thousands upon thousands of Israelis putting their differences behind them to defend the country and its people, no questions asked.
Over a year has passed and the war is now also raging in southern Lebanon, and the end isn't in sight. This raises the second question, the harder one.
In Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's May 27 framework for getting the hostages released, it's written that the goal is to exchange Palestinian prisoners for all the Israeli hostages in Gaza. (For "hostages" he uses the word bnei aruba and not the loaded hatufim that everyone else is using; even at the most difficult times, Netanyahu is busy with his image.)
According to the document, there would also be sustainable calm that would lead to a permanent cease-fire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, reconstruction of the Strip and an opening of the Gaza border crossings for goods and people.
None of these things have happened, even though five months have gone by. It's doubtful whether Netanyahu intended for any of these things to happen. What we did get was the expansion of the war to the north, many more days of reserve duty and more hostages killed in captivity.
In that same agreement – which was never signed – the male soldiers who were abducted were supposed to be released in the second stage of the deal, but Netanyahu said in June that he was willing to sign a partial agreement with Hamas in which some of the Israelis would be returned. But he was committed to continuing the war after the humanitarian pause. The meaning was clear: Soldiers would not be coming home.
What conclusion are soldiers supposed to reach about the government's actions? If they have a little time to think about it between missions, the unavoidable conclusion is that the government doesn't care about them. It sees them as a resource that needs to do everything asked: Risk your life, livelihood and family even though the government and the person leading it are unwilling to take any risk that would jeopardize their power.
Netanyahu describes the security situation as an existential threat to the nation, but at the same time he's working hard to exempt the ultra-Orthodox from military service. He praises the soldiers who have fallen in battle but has abandoned the ones who were abducted.
In both cases he has put his personal political considerations first. But when, in an act of desperation, a few soldiers sign a letter warning that they will stop serving if the government doesn't get the hostages released, cabinet members rush to condemn them and demand that they be put behind bars.
The soldiers are still showing up for military duty because their service gives them a feeling of importance; after all, we really do have enemies and we are under attack. But the actions of this reckless government, which isn't bringing the hostages home and isn't drafting the ultra-Orthodox, is exploiting this good spirit. Let the soldiers put their lives in danger as long no hair is touched on Netanyahu's head.