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Part Six - The Freedom of the Citizen and Internal and External Security
The IDF recruitment model
Towards a professional volunteer army
The great changes in military technology since the establishment of the state, as well as the great demographic change in Israel's situation since then, have changed both the "demand" and the "supply" of manpower for the IDF. On the one hand, the IDF needs more and more quality manpower, which is required to undergo long-term professional training, and is then required to serve a long term of service that includes permanent service of one to several years[13], in order to fully return the investment in its training, whether they are combatants or combat supporters. On the other hand, because of this change in the needs of the IDF, there are now more and more compulsory recruits that the IDF does not really need, but has been forced to keep in service for two or three years, in non-essential positions, to the point of creating "hidden unemployment."
Our vision is to shorten the compulsory service that applies to everyone - meanning everyone - to basic training only. Anyone who wishes to continue serving in the professional army can apply, and from the candidates the army will choose those it truly needs. Recruits will be paid a respectable salary, based on the average wage in the economy. They will receive the most advanced training and equipment, receive an academic education and receive high social status thanks to their contribution to national security and the good conditions they receive.
This model already exists in many professions in the IDF, and should be extended to the entire army, including:
Shortening compulsory service
In 1949, the duration of compulsory service was two years for men and one year for women. In 1965, the duration of compulsory service was two years and two months for men, and one and eight months for women. Today, the duration of service is two years and eight months for men and two years for women, and the IDF has a manpower surplus[14]. Compulsory service will be shortened, as gradually as possible, as will be determined after a thorough examination in full coordination with the IDF, and as an integral part of the entire program proposed here.
In 2015, as part of its multi-year program, the IDF offered[15] as part of its multi-year program to shorten compulsory service and place a central emphasis on young career soldiers. This is an excellent first step in the right direction.
Option for early release
In addition to shortening compulsory military service for all, the IDF will be given a much easier option than soldiers and soldiers before the end of their service, which is not really necessary for all of their compulsory service. The change will be carried out gradually and as an integral part of the overall plan proposed here.
Raising the soldiers' wages
Those who serve in the IDF in a meaningful and essential service, in compulsory service, in the regular army, or in reserve service[16], and especially in the young career army - those whose military profession demanded the extension of their service to the regular army will be rewarded well: with wages, studies, housing and other benefits that will reflect, economically and socially, the status worthy of our soldiers. Those whose service is not needed by the IDF will be released as soon as possible to civilian life, and will contribute their contribution to the state and society.
The change proposed here in IDF service, together with the fundamental change in the concept of security from "containment" to decision, will enable the IDF to be smaller than numerical and budgetary, and much more effective and strong, deterrent and winning.
The gradual change
In order not to carry out a rapid revolution in IDF recruitment that could endanger our existence, the change described here will be implemented gradually, in a process that will take years, in full coordination with the IDF, and with all necessary caution. We will advance this process only as long as it strengthens the power of the IDF.
The attitude toward refusal conscription and conscientious service
The situation today
The phenomenon of conscientious conscientious objection and the proper treatment it has been dealt with in all free countries over the past century. Unfortunately, Israel is not a particularly positive example of this, since the method used in Israel to deal with conscientious objection is the "attrition" method. Concientious objectors enter military prison time after time for short periods, with the military establishment expecting that this will ultimately cause them to give up, as indeed many of them do. Those who do not surrender exhaust the military system and are finally released without recognition as conscientious objectors, but within the context of evasive definitions of incompatibility.
The moral and practical damages
Zehut believes that the current policy is immoral and does no honor to the state and the IDF, and most especially emphasizes the state's deep insecurity about the justice of its path.
First, the failure to recognize conscientious objection as a phenomenon with a defined legal status conveys a message. The message is that conscience is not a factor that must be taken into account, but rather repressed. Today, the behavior towards soldiers who refuse to serve ignores their moral error on the one hand, and gives no recognition to their personal right to obey their conscience on the other.
In order to blur the phenomenon of refusals and the phenomenon of desertion, the army frequently overlooks soldiers or commanders who stop showing up for duty, and continue to pay their salaries (even when it comes to permanent salaries), so long as the fact of their refusal of military service is not made known.
The damage in this phenomenon is crystal clear. The people of Israel have never believed in blind obedience that overrides what values demand. Such an approach is repugnant to every Jew by his very nature, whether he supports conscientious objection or not, and the result is the loss of confidence that the military system expresses justice beyond the coercive power it has been given. The power of the army against refusal too serve is in its justice, and not in its ability to send soldiers to jail until they are persuaded to give up a principled struggle.
The right to be held accountable for the choice of conscience
Zehut believes that a society that is confident in the justice of its moral path can deal with the phenomenon of refusal in a much more genuine and direct manner. There is no country whose wars and the fulfillment of its security needs are more just and moral than the State of Israel. Therefore, there is no reason to deal with the phenomenon as it is today.
Zehut will act to establish a procedure as follows:
Any citizen who is about to be drafted will be able to declare to the military authorities that he refuses to serve in the Israel Defense Forces for reasons of conscience.
After this declaration, he will be tried before a military court, in which he will be required to prove that his reasons are indeed conscientious and not pragmatic.
If the court is convinced of his sincerity, he will be sentenced to one year's imprisonment for conscientious objection, to be determined by law.
After serving, he will be released from the IDF immediately.
This procedure will also apply to soldiers who, during their service, conclude that their military service is inconsistent with their consciences.
As a clear expression of our knowledge and belief that a person who chooses not to serve for reasons of conscience is mistaken and may retract his mistake, it must be stated that:
If the soldier retracts his decision while serving his sentence, the army will allow him to continue his service during the service prescribed by law.
This approach emphasizes the need to deal with the phenomenon, which stems from the clear belief of the people and the state in the justice of their path - a belief that provides the ability to look directly at the citizen who refuses to enlist and make a clear statement to him: "You are right that a person must obey his conscience, and you are not being punished for this. You are being punished for adhering to erronious values and harming your people and your country, to whom you are indebted."
Blunting the sting by transitioning to a professional army
All of the above will lose much of its relevance when Israel gradually moves to a recruitment and service model more like a professional volunteer army. In a situation where any citizen who is not interested in spending a significant part of his life in professional military service is recruited for a relatively short period of time, which does not involve confrontation with anyone, refusal to enlist or conscientious service becomes a mere demonstration. In such a situation, the sting of confrontation with it will be blunted, and the extent of the phenomenon will diminish.
[13] In November 2016 it was reported that the Sayeret Matkal commando unit would be required to serve for three years in the career army, instead of a year and a half, as it had been, as a result of the extension of their training and professionalization. This is another example of the growing need for soldiers who are long-term professionals. In December 2016, it was announced that they wanted to extend regular army service for additional elite units, due to the length of their training.
[14] Alongside the shortage of long-term professional personnel.
[16] Reserve service is not a burden that falls on everyone as it was in the past, but on a small percentage of the population. Under these conditions, there is justification to end the old policy of non-compensation for reserve duty, other than "offsetting damages."
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