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Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Maybe Lindsey Lohan needs army duty?
In America’s celebrity-obsessed media culture, the focus is on Lindsey Lohan’s latest arrest and Paris Hilton’s newest outrage.
Israelis, too, focus on celebrities. One of the most popular TV shows is A Star is Born, Israel’s version of American Idol. But the tabloid fodder provided by young Israeli celebrities isn’t drinking and driving and drugs — it is the draft.
Israeli legislators are hopping mad about the record number of 18-year-olds dodging compulsory army service. They worry that draft-dodging is becoming hip.
Israeli media reported in July that four of the eight finalists on “A Star is Born,” have not done their army duty. More than a handful of Israel’s major recording artists, singers, actors and actresses have also been “outed” as draft dodgers this summer.
Draft-dodging is viewed by older Israelis as the equivalent of a federal crime in this nation that has fought multiple wars in its short history. But many teens think differently.
This summer 25 percent of 18-year-old Jewish males did not enter the army for their required three years of service. Forty-three percent of females, who must serve two years, avoided the call-up.
Parliament is considering special hearings on the topic, and the army is thinking about revealing a list of entertainers who haven’t done their service.
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