In Israeli domestic politics, issues surrounding the Haredim and their relationship with the state are again at the forefront. Recent legislation regarding the enlistment of yeshiva students—a longstanding point of contention that, given the current demands the war is placing on reservists, has become a greater than ever source of resentment—came close to toppling the government last week. Then followed a dust-up in the Knesset concerning the appointment of local rabbis, the details of which are too arcane to explain here, which also highlighted the tensions between Haredim and non-Haredim.

Brian Horowitz suggests looking to tsarist Russia’s nine decades of efforts to conscript Jews to think about solutions to the problem of haredi enlistment. During the reign of Tsar Nicholas I (1825–1855), Russian Jews had good reason to see army service as cruel, dangerous, and likely to destroy conscripts’ connection to Judaism. Their attempts to resist conscription ended up having terrible effects on Jewish communal life. Yet the Russian government had more success when it adopted more liberal policies:

In the case of haredi conscription in Israel, it might be possible to put in shorter service terms for members who receive secular education and training for jobs outside yeshiva study halls. However, if haredi recruitment is imposed like in Nicholas’s time with the power of selection in the hands of the rabbinic elite, a similar situation will likely arise in which some boys will go to the military because they lack prowess as scholars, while others will be victims of corruption. This picture will not be pretty.

Some people will continue to strive to change haredi attitudes toward the state. I don’t think that we should expect change in the short run. . . . Today’s stratification of military service in Israel cannot stand, but the proposals for haredi service must include incentives as well as demands.

While Horowitz looks at the problem as an outsider, it’s worth noting that the haredi journalist (and yeshiva student) Moshe Shafer takes a similar approach, arguing that Israeli Haredim have based their approach to the Israeli government on strategies of premodern Jewish representatives “pleading before the classic Polish aristocrat.” He believes it’s time for a change, calling on his fellow Haredim, who have already accepted the rights of citizenship, to accept the responsibilities as well.

Recent reports suggest that the White House has at last acted to allow the shipments of weapons that had been withheld from Israel and to end further the delays. On this topic, Elliott Abrams comments, “I don’t know what and how much has been held up, but it shouldn’t have happened. The level of delay should be zero.”

In this interview with Ariel Kahana, Abrams also comments on the failings of U.S. policy toward Iran, and the Biden administration’s refusal to enforce existing sanctions:

According to Abrams, Iran has indeed halted the advancement of its nuclear program on rare occasions. “This happened when Bush invaded Iraq in 2003, and when [President] Trump eliminated Qassem Suleimani in 2020. The U.S. needs to be ready to use force in Iran, but credibility is critical here. Only if [Iran’s leaders] are convinced that the U.S. is willing to act will they stop.”

Abrams claims that the U.S. president tried for two-and-a-half years to revive the nuclear deal with Iran until he realized it wasn’t interested. “Iran has benefited from this situation, and everyone outside the administration sees it as a failure.”