For the last several
months I have been troubled by the question of army service, and it has all
felt much more acute with the current conflict. I hesitated about writing about
it, partly because I still don’t have an answer, and partly because it seems
like a personal issue and wouldn’t be of general interest. But it does touch on
a topical Israeli matter, so I thought I’d see how it goes…
I also wrote a bit at
the end about my personal views about what’s going on in Gaza (and all of
Israel up to Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem).
As an immigrant doctor
I am officially due to be conscripted for 18 months as a Medical Officer. I
would then serve up to 1 month every year of “Millu’im” (reserve duty) until
I’m 45, and be available for call-up in times of war. What is unusual about my
situation is that I am being given the choice whether I want to do this (partly
due to an army administrative c*#k-up). And so the big question for me is whether
to volunteer?
Service in the army
has historically been a big deal here: It forms an old-boys network, as proven
by the number of prime ministers, cabinet ministers, and even hospital senior
managers who served together in elite units.
It has also been a
great social leveller: unlike Eton, Oxford and Cambridge, admission into the
elite combat units tended to be from all strata of society, e.g. the current
leader of the opposition (Mofaz) came from a classically under-privileged
background but served as an officer in Sayeret Matkal before starting his
political career.
Conversely not serving
was a sign of either physical/psychological illness, or shirking of civic duty.
However, much of that
has changed. Less than 50% of those who could serve actually do, and employers
are no longer allowed to ask about service at interviews.
So why consider
volunteering? (Or as Israelis put it: “Are you crazy?!”)
The truth is, it can’t
be because the 18 months are fun or heroic. A friend (Adam Albert) wrote an
excellent and funny blog describing his time as an army doctor (http://www.adndeb.blogspot.co.il),
and it is tough and demoralizing: 120 hour weeks playing GP to essentially
healthy, whinging 19 year olds. And I have a huge amount of respect for Adam in
managing to get through it.
I am also not sure in
my specific circumstance that it can be justified as being the best service to
the country:
The head of my
department has been suggesting various projects (e.g. research) I could do at
Hadassah, some of which could definitely be more useful to Israel. In contrast,
I am hardly the greatest physical athlete, or combat soldier.
Those arguments
against service may well win in the end, but there still seem to be a few in
favour that I haven’t been able to get around:
Firstly, it is still a
big right of passage shared by most Israelis. Everyone has stories of their
army service, and everywhere you go, you see people in uniform. To be Israeli
and not have served makes me feel like I have missed out on a big part of what
being Israeli (unfortunately) is.
Secondly, there’s no
getting round the fact that it is a duty. If I volunteer and the army (unbelievably)
chooses to place me in Hadassah doing research, that would be their choice. But
as Ze’ev, a former boss of my mum’s put it: “Israeli men don’t use their time
“usefully”; they serve their country for 3 years”.
Finally, and perhaps
most positive of the reasons, is the prospect of better jobs in the future.
During Milu’im you can get assigned to more special units, and I know of
doctors who currently or in the past have served in such units as 669 (combat
search-and-rescue/civilian helicopter evacuation), Alpianistim (the alpine
trained troops in the Golan), Sayeret Egoz (elite unit of Northern Command),
and Sayeret Matkal (the most elite unit in Israel and amongst the best in the
world). But to do those, you must do your time as an ordinary doctor for 18
months first.
That is currently
where I am at. I have agreed with my Head of Department that I will do 2 years
of pure clinical training, and then we’ll see. I am currently edging towards
volunteering at that stage, but the opposing pressures are great.
I know this is getting
long, but I feel that I can’t finish without mentioning my experience of the
recent conflict.
To start with, I
wanted to say something about the political question: Was Israel right to enter
into Operation Pillar of Cloud?
I see myself as firmly
on the Left of the political spectrum. I believe that the Palestinians have a
right to their own country and that it is in Israel’s interests for it to be
independent and prosperous. My Right-leaning friends often object that the
Palestinians will just use their country as a base to launch rockets, and my
(admittedly slightly cynical) response is: “that’s fine”. They would then be
treated like any other country that chose to launch rockets at a neighbour - it
would be an act of war, and may the best army win.
Ever since I arrived
here the newspapers report almost daily counts of rockets hitting towns in
Israel, and they increased markedly in recent weeks. I don’t expect the British
media to have covered that (it’s hardly of interest to most Brits), but it does
give some context.
If we on the Left are
serious about the Palestinians getting a state, than we must also be serious
about that state being held accountable.
Leaving politics
aside, my own experience of the war has been thankfully minor. Jerusalem has had
one rocket attack, and I happened to be on holiday in the North at the time. My
sister on the other hand, in Tel Aviv, has had frequent air-raid sirens and temporarily
moved out of her flat to her friend’s, because it has a reinforced room.
What I did see was
huge movements of troops and armoured vehicles when we were travelling on the
roads (I won’t name units and where they were going on the internet). The whole
atmosphere has also changed. Everyone is talking about the conflict, and some
people with real anxiety.
At the moment, there
is talk of a cease-fire but it’s all very vague. Let’s hope that calm will
finally come to this region once and for all.
P.S. Since writing
this we had another rocket hit the Jerusalem area this afternoon. I was in
clinic at the time and didn’t hear the sirens (either a worrying sign about
local civil defence measures, or a positive sign of how much stone and concrete
was between me and the outside world!)
