Slonimer, of course you realize that these places are technically off-limits to Jews, so no one can argue that Jews should live there. Your argument would have been stronger had you suggested places like Hevron, Sderot and the many small yishuvim surrounded by Arab towns, which I personally would not live in, but many people do. You will say that I am hypocritical about my belief in Hashem’s Hashgacha. I don’t think that what I said about Eretz Yisroel in general contradicts the idea that there are some place that are safer than others, or that we are not exempt from hishtadlus just because we are in E”Y. You still can’t say, I will cross the street without looking since Hashem watches over E”Y. I think it is a scale of hishtadlus vs relying on Hashagacha. You need more hishtadlus to achieve the same level of “safety” outside of E”Y than you do within. Safety within E”Y will still vary, but since there are different rules in E”Y, you can’t measure it with the same yard-stick. I’m not sure if I am explaining it well.
Back to military- take a look at other recent threads to remind yourself that de facto, there is not a universal draft, at least not at the moment. No one (until your recent post) has forwarded the position here that one should not live in E”Y because he will have to go to the army and that is very risky, which is why I did not present any counter-arguments to that. I would agree, that if you don’t want to go to the army or learn full time to get an exemption, or don’t want either of those options for your kids when they become of age, then it is not a good idea at this time to make aliya. But there are ways to live here as a non-citizen and not have to go the army. So it does not have to be a man-on-the-street concern for an American Chareidi moving to Israel, (Disclaimer: this very non-PC statement is not meant to underestimate the real dangers facing those who do serve or a lack of appreciation for their sacrifices, those of you here who have served or have children who have/will serve can carry on the discussion from your point of view.)
I think you summarized it nicely with the teva-vs-nissim statement above. When it comes to so many issues, whether safety, financial, etc, E”Y seems to operate l’maale min hateva. Hard to apply logic and statistics to that. Those who can accept that, can live in E”Y successfully. Those who have a hard time with that, will find everything wrong.
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