Another revolution is at hand. After the success of Communications Minister Moshe Kahlon’s “cell phone revolution” and the Halperin optical chain’s much-advertised “price revolution,” our society is moving on to its next goal, a revolution in sharing the burden. This revolution has been compared to the French Revolution and has been deemed only slightly less momentous than the Industrial Revolution. From Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Yesh Atid chief Yair Lapid to Habayit Hayehudi leader Naftali Bennett, everyone has gone to the barricades.

While people throughout history have fought for their rights, Israelis have fought for their obligations. Israeli society wants absolutely everyone to serve in the army. Why? Because Israeli society considers military service its most definitive value. “Don’t be a sucker” is its most definitive sentiment.

Justice, equality and fraternity? In this revolution there is very little of this. There is little justice in an unjust society (for different reasons entirely), little equality in an unequal society (for different reasons entirely) and not the slightest bit of fraternity. The real goal is to hurt the other, to goad and penalize the minority ? the ultra-Orthodox and the Arabs ? who are also, not coincidently, the poorest people in our society.

Along with a thirst for vengeance for these two groups to be drafted or do national service goes hatred. That’s the flame that stokes this fight, around which most Israeli tribes have rallied. It unites them so much that politicians have pounced on it. What’s a better issue than drafting everyone? What brings in more votes than this populist cry for sharing the burden equally? Trust Lapid that if this is his banner it’s a pleasant one with no risk involved. Trust Netanyahu that if he cynically jumps on this bandwagon, he’ll know what he’s doing.

No one is motivated by a sense of justice or the desire for a more egalitarian society. The Israelis who are shouting about sharing the burden equally don’t really want equality. The fact is, they avoid the fight against much more outrageous discrimination and injustices.

Who wants equality? There is a long line of deprived, oppressed people waiting (in vain) ? the poor, the Palestinians, the Arabs, the Mizrahim, women and labor migrants. But of all things, Israeli society is going to war over the draft issue. Of all the injustices, society chooses this marginal one to rectify. Israel’s next government will be formed based on this issue.

The Israel Defense Forces probably doesn’t want the ultra-Orthodox; it probably doesn’t need them. No one really intends to draft the Arabs, and probably no one cares whether Ahmed is drafted to sweep up a clinic in an Arab community. But we won’t be suckers, and we hate our minorities, so let’s get ‘em.

Even among those who are drafted there is no equality. And who decides anyway who contributes more to society, soldier or poet, broker or rabbi? Equality already exists for everyone, equality before the law for the rich and the poor; for Arabs and Jews; equal income for men and women; equality of opportunity for Ashkenazim and Mizrahim. It’s just this one injustice that must be redressed, and right now. Only when Yankel stands at a checkpoint and harasses Palestinians will we know we have a just and egalitarian society. How ludicrous.

Most Arabs here want to join the workforce, but Israel doesn’t welcome them. Look what happened to the “industrial zones” in the Arab cities, a heap of car and tire repair shops. Try to put yourself in Mohammed’s shoes and find work in Tel Aviv; he can hardly find an apartment to rent.

Ever more ultra-Orthodox people want to join the workforce. But neither they nor the Arabs will accept military service. The IDF is fat enough without them and Israel is strong enough to respect their limitations. They can’t be forced into the economy, not by law and not by draconian orders of a Netanyahu-Lapid government. The way to incorporate them is by mutual respect and tolerance for their otherness. But that’s not on the agenda of the new Israeli revolution.