Current sectionOpinionShare to FacebookShare to XArticle printing is available to subscribers onlyPrint in a simple, ad-free formatSubscribeComments: Zen reading is available to subscribers onlyAd-free and in a comfortable reading formatSubscribeSecular Israelis can be forgiven for fuming at ultra-Orthodox Jews' disdain for equality when it comes to the draft, but their own willingness to die in vain in a foolish war is even worseGideon Levy05:08 AM • June 07 2026 IDTFacing the ultra-Orthodox commandment "We will die and not enlist" is the secular Zionist one: "We will enlist and die."Loading...Click the alert icon to follow topics:Israel occupationIsrael war crimesIDFHaredim CommentsLoading...In the NewsIn the News: Israel-Iran Live UpdatesLebanonMacron SnubWest BankHaredi ProtestMichael RabelloHaQuizHaaretz Podcast'We Will Enlist and Die' vs 'We Will Die and Not Enlist'Confronting Australia's Left-wing AntisemitismThey Shoot Babies: IDF Jargon Masks a Child's KillingThe Antisemitism of the Israeli RightTime Is Not a Friend: Pain Is Everywhere in Rachel Goldberg-Polin's MemoirRemembering and rebuilding two years laterICYMIFar-right Israeli Ministers Join Thousands at Israel Day Parade in New York'Israel Is Unstoppable, We Need Other Countries to Get Us Out of This''Fucking Crazy': Trump Lashes Out at Netanyahu Over Lebanon, Report SaysThe Paradigm That Led to Oct. 7 Didn't Collapse, It Was Fiction From the StartManufactured Nostalgia for Lebanon's Beaufort Masks a Strategic FailureHow the U.S. Air Force Is Turning Israel's Ben-Gurion Airport Into Its Own Base