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Military service is compulsory in Israel, so being a former member of 8200 isn't exactly unusual. Given the choice between spending two or three years as deploy

Military service is compulsory in Israel, so being a former member of 8200 isn't exactly unusual. Given the choice between spending two or three years as deployed infantry, or writing code in an air-conditioned office, I suspect a few of us here would choose the latter.

wahnfrieden 2y ago
[flagged]
- gnfargbl 2y ago
  I can't find accurate statistics, but I question your use of https://truthout.org/articles/more-israelis-are-refusing-deployment-to-gaza-will-it-help-end-the-genocide https://truthout.org/articles/more-israelis-are-refusing-dep... as an unbiased source. If you are going to quote an article with that title, you could at least refrain from editorialising: > Although military service is often described as a national duty in Israel, conscription is in fact far from universal. As little as 50 percent of Israeli citizens actually enlist, according to left-leaning Mesarvot (Hebrew for “I Refuse”), a network of Israeli refusers to which Behar Tsalik belongs. EDIT: You did update your comment with the full quote, but only after I posted this. That's disingenuous of you, and I'm out of this discussion.
  - wahnfrieden 2y ago
    I've added the source per your request. You're welcome to share a more accurate and less biased statistic, though you have none
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
- shilgapira 2y ago
  Arab-Israelis are around 20% of the population and they're not required to enlist. Some religious groups, religious women specifically, are also not required to enlist. There are exemptions for people with disabilities, health issues with risk factors, extreme poverty, problematic family situations, teen parents, etc, as you would expect there to be in any western democracy. For any other healthy citizen that's not exempt by law - males in particular - military service is as compulsory as paying taxes. > It is a choice I'll never understand why people who aren't Israelis, don't live in Israel, can't read or speak Hebrew, and probably have never even bothered to talk to an Israeli, for some bizarre reason feel qualified to talk so authoritatively about a place half way around the globe that they've never been to. EDIT Editing your post like this to hide how wrong you were after the fact is misleading, but by now we've seen that this is typical behavior for people in your ideological camp.
  - asveikau 2y ago
    I've read about or seen interviews with people who refused. I am also aware that the vast majority do not, and would consider it unthinkable to refuse.
- wasabi991011 2y ago
  Removing all context from this quote and not including a source is misleading. I was surprised at the quote so I looked up your source[1] and it describes the ways Israelis avoid conscription by using exceptions/deferrals such as being Palestinian, being ultra-Orthodox, having physical or psychological conditions. Others just choose to go to military prison. Sounds pretty mandatory to me, at least how the word is commonly used. [1] https://truthout.org/articles/more-israelis-are-refusing-deployment-to-gaza-will-it-help-end-the-genocide/ https://truthout.org/articles/more-israelis-are-refusing-dep...
hintymad 2y ago
Yup. And more than that, Israel picks the brightest high-school kids to join their special school that trains intelligence officers. The kids learn advanced STEM and analytics in the school. It's not a coincidence that many of the graduates ended up founding good companies.

wahnfrieden 2y ago

[flagged]

gnfargbl 2y ago
I can't find accurate statistics, but I question your use of https://truthout.org/articles/more-israelis-are-refusing-deployment-to-gaza-will-it-help-end-the-genocide https://truthout.org/articles/more-israelis-are-refusing-dep... as an unbiased source. If you are going to quote an article with that title, you could at least refrain from editorialising: > Although military service is often described as a national duty in Israel, conscription is in fact far from universal. As little as 50 percent of Israeli citizens actually enlist, according to left-leaning Mesarvot (Hebrew for “I Refuse”), a network of Israeli refusers to which Behar Tsalik belongs. EDIT: You did update your comment with the full quote, but only after I posted this. That's disingenuous of you, and I'm out of this discussion.
- wahnfrieden 2y ago
  I've added the source per your request. You're welcome to share a more accurate and less biased statistic, though you have none
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
shilgapira 2y ago
Arab-Israelis are around 20% of the population and they're not required to enlist. Some religious groups, religious women specifically, are also not required to enlist. There are exemptions for people with disabilities, health issues with risk factors, extreme poverty, problematic family situations, teen parents, etc, as you would expect there to be in any western democracy. For any other healthy citizen that's not exempt by law - males in particular - military service is as compulsory as paying taxes. > It is a choice I'll never understand why people who aren't Israelis, don't live in Israel, can't read or speak Hebrew, and probably have never even bothered to talk to an Israeli, for some bizarre reason feel qualified to talk so authoritatively about a place half way around the globe that they've never been to. EDIT Editing your post like this to hide how wrong you were after the fact is misleading, but by now we've seen that this is typical behavior for people in your ideological camp.
- asveikau 2y ago
  I've read about or seen interviews with people who refused. I am also aware that the vast majority do not, and would consider it unthinkable to refuse.
wasabi991011 2y ago
Removing all context from this quote and not including a source is misleading. I was surprised at the quote so I looked up your source[1] and it describes the ways Israelis avoid conscription by using exceptions/deferrals such as being Palestinian, being ultra-Orthodox, having physical or psychological conditions. Others just choose to go to military prison. Sounds pretty mandatory to me, at least how the word is commonly used. [1] https://truthout.org/articles/more-israelis-are-refusing-deployment-to-gaza-will-it-help-end-the-genocide/ https://truthout.org/articles/more-israelis-are-refusing-dep...

hintymad 2y ago

Yup. And more than that, Israel picks the brightest high-school kids to join their special school that trains intelligence officers. The kids learn advanced STEM and analytics in the school. It's not a coincidence that many of the graduates ended up founding good companies.