This is encouraging. More and more Israelis are simply not showing up for compulsory military service:
Army statistics show the number of young people who do not enlist for military service has crept up in recent years to more than one in four men in 2007 and more than 43 percent of women.
Some, but far from all, are starting to recognise what is eloquently explained by this professor of Psychology at Tel Aviv University:
My point is simple: the day we are no longer judged by the standards of the West is the beginning of Israel’s end, because it means that the West has decided we are no longer part of it, and hence will not be committed to Israel’s existence. The day may come when Israel will, as W&M [Mearsheimer/Walt] suggest, be seen as just another troublesome country that destabilizes the world.
Behaving in a manner befitting the standards of the Western world is far more important for Israel’s long-term survival than gaining a few square miles here and there, by building the security wall through Palestinian territories, tearing apart villages, homes and schools, and expanding settlements. Every such act is not just a moral outrage; it pushes Israel one step closer to being disqualified from belonging to the West.
My argument is not just about being loved by the world – though this factor must not be dismissed. Many of us believe that Israel’s moral fiber has been fatally harmed by the occupation and by the two Lebanon wars. The result is that both morally and strategically, the continued occupation and subjugation of the Palestinian people has put us on the wrong side of history.
This is something that Zionists simply refuse to see. For them, the world either understands the wonders of Israel or they’re inherently anti-Semitic.