Weekly Commentary: Israel Needs A National Guard Even If Jerusalem Day Threats Went Bust

Weekly Commentary: Israel Needs A National Guard Even If Jerusalem Day
Threats Went Bust
Dr. Aaron Lerner 29 May 2022

As of this writing it appears that Arab threats both inside and outside of
Israel of a strong reaction to Jerusalem Day events went bust.

It would be a mistake, however, for policymakers to conclude that this
dramatically different Jerusalem Day represents a watershed event of such
profound significance that we can lay our security concerns at the wayside.

The fact remains that we are not today equipped to address the challenge if
we find ourselves in a national crisis in the future in which a significant
part of the Arab community turns against us.

The IDF playbook in such a scenario has troops and equipment moving on
off-the-road routes to avoid Arab blockades but that is hardly the only
problem such a scenario would raise.

Which is why it is so important that the Government follows through with the
idea of creating a national guard based on hiring recently discharged combat
soldiers who serve for a few years at relatively high pay.

For most participants, serving in the national guard would not be a career
choice but instead a way to make some serious quick money to get a head
start for their future.

Some have argued for increasing the size of the police force rather than
creating a new force, but it would not be practical for the police to have
some kind of incentive pay scale which would apply solely to this group.
Add to that the problem that it would be difficult to insure that the extra
police would be actually permanently assigned to the role that the national
guard is supposed to fill.
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