Yair Golan, leader of Israel’s far-left Democrats Party, on Monday distanced himself from remarks by a party primary candidate suggesting that Religious Zionist soldiers suffer higher casualty rates because some do a shortened military service.
“I distance myself from that remark, it was an unnecessary remark,” Golan said in response to JNS when asked about comments by Naor Narkis, a prominent secular activist expected to secure an electable spot in The Democrats’ primary next month ahead of the general election this fall.
“We in The Democrats do not judge an entire community—certainly, certainly not a community that serves,” Golan declared, speaking with JNS after a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem.
The issue of Israel Defense Forces conscription should be addressed through the “political struggle,” he said, arguing that was the appropriate arena for the debate.
“Those who really should be held accountable,” the left-wing leader added, are ultra-Orthodox leaders who refuse to transform Haredi society into one that “truly shares the burden and is a full partner in the work of building the state and defending it.”
Narkis caused a firestorm two weeks ago when he told i24News in an interview that “if Religious Zionists were doing full military service like secular people, maybe they wouldn’t be falling so much.”
He was referring to the Hesder (“arrangement”) program, which usually lasts five years and during which participants are officially IDF soldiers. Sixteen months of that time are dedicated to actual army service, comprising both training and active duty, almost always in a combat unit, with the rest being devoted to Torah study.
In the first year of the war alone, 80 students and graduates of Hesder yeshivas were killed in the line of duty, accounting for about 10% of the IDF’s fatalities during that period.
More broadly, Israel’s Religious Zionist sector is disproportionately represented in IDF combat units, resulting in inordinately high numbers of soldiers from this community having been killed or wounded during the War of Redemption.
According to Narkis, “the Religious Zionists aren’t all that nationalistic when they’re the biggest draft-dodging sector after the ultra-Orthodox—we simply haven’t noticed it.”
He added, “Just as a doctor with three years of experience is more experienced than a doctor with a year and a half of experience, a soldier who served only a year and a half through the Hesder program is less experienced than a secular soldier who served three years.”
Fifty-one members of the Democrats have registered to run in the party’s July 20 primary, competing for what polls suggest will be eight to 11 Knesset seats, the party announced on Sunday.
The Democrats Party recently adopted a bylaw granting Golan the authority to move up to two candidates up or down its Knesset slate, Channel 12 News reported earlier this month.
The provision, approved late last month, allows the party chairman to exercise that authority if it is determined that a candidate would “materially harm” the party’s electoral prospects.
Narkis—who has also sparked controversy over an AI-generated video depicting religious Jewish politicians removing their head coverings, promoting the consumption of chametz (leavened products) during Passover and publicly desecrating Shabbat in a Jerusalem square—previously told local media he expected to secure an electable spot on the party’s list.
