Every time I come home from another round of reserve duty, I hear the same question: “When are they finally going to draft the Haredim?” The question usually comes from a place of genuine frustration. After hundreds of days in uniform, I understand that frustration better than most. But I also know something many people do not want to hear: even if every draft-eligible Haredi enlisted tomorrow morning, my reserve service would not get any shorter.

There is a growing sense of anger toward Israel’s Haredi community. Every day we hear another story about exhausted reservists returning for yet another round of duty while tens of thousands of Haredi men remain exempt from military service. The media fuels this anger, politicians capitalize on it, and the public has increasingly accepted a simple narrative: draft the Haredim, and the burden on everyone else will finally ease.

The frustration is understandable. The conclusion is not.

Much of the public conversation revolves around “the reservists,” but even that term has become misleading. Most Israelis are not serving in the reserves. Less than 10 percent of Israel’s eligible population performs reserve duty at all. An even smaller percentage, well under five percent of the eligible population, serves as combat reservists. These are the men and women carrying the overwhelming responsibility for Israel’s security. They are the ones spending months away from their families, leaving businesses behind, missing birthdays, and returning to the front deployment after deployment.

But we also owe them honesty.

Imagine that tomorrow morning every draft-eligible Haredi citizen reported to the induction center ready to serve.

Not because they are........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)