Secular Coercion Will Fail (part 3)

Ya'alon gets it:

If the government adopts the Keshev Committee's recommendations on drafting haredim into the army, it will cause a civil war, Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon said Thursday morning on Israel Radio.

"I would like to see the haredim join the IDF at 18 years old," Ya'alon said. "But if we try this, we will start a civil war."

Kadima party chair Shaul Mofaz and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will also meet again on Thursday in an attempt to work out differences on the issue, Army Radio reported.

MK Yohanan Plesner (Kadima) walked out on talks with Ya’alon about a universal service bill on Wednesday, when the two sides were unable to reach agreements on key issues. After Plesner and Ya’alon discussed and agreed on enlistment quotas and personal sanctions for those who do not join the IDF or do national service, the Likud minister presented a different stance in a Wednesday-afternoon meeting.

The main dispute between Likud and Kadima was over whether there should be quotas limiting the number of yeshiva students permitted to avoid the draft, as Kadima demands, or merely setting targets for the number of haredim drafted, which the Likud prefers. The parties also disagree on the final age at which service could be avoided and the extent of sanctions against draft evaders.

Ya'alon said that his proposal was more realistic than that being put forth by MK Yohanan Plesner, the Kadima MK who has taken up the mantle of increasing the IDF draft rate for haredim. "The haredim will not vote for my proposal, but they will not star a civil war over it," Ya'alon said, "Plesner's proposal will erase all the inroads we've made in integrating haredim, including the Nahal Haredi program."

Plesner is still in the dark. How can he be helped?