10,000 vs. 500
About six months ago a big fuss was made because 500 officers in the IDF
refused to serve in Gaza, and ca. 50 IAF pilots also refused to attack Gaza.
This campaign was organized by "Peace Now" and other leftist Israeli groups
that see the Palestinians as always being in the right, notwithstanding the
wave of terrorism that killed 1,200 Israelis and injured 6,000. Of course,
leftist anti-Israel forces throughout the world jumped on this information
and made it a cause celebre, implying that the IDF was about to collapse.
Of course, nothing of the sort happened, the numbers were so miniscule, and
it turned out that a majority of the pilots involved were already retired!
Now we have a campaign of serving IDF soldiers refusing to obey orders to
remove Israeli settlers from Gaza. But, now it's really serious, because
the number involved is estimated at 10,000, and this is no small number. It
shows the relative strength of the rightist vs. leftist oriented Israelis
serving in the IDF. Of course, I am against both of them. I take the
position that no individual soldier has the right to disobey orders issued
by a constitutionally elected government, unless those orders are
specifically illegal (such as deliberately targeting civilians). We should
strive to keep politics of all types out of the IDF.
Who are these 10,000? They are principally religious soldiers who are
against the disengagement or withdrawal from Gaza. Further, many of them
follow the dictates of the religious authorities and several rabbis have
come out against the withdrawal. Their basic view is that no secular
government has the right to prevent Jews from living anywhere in historic
Eretz Israel. Those who say that Gaza is not part of that are wrong, Gaza is
mentioned many times in the Bible and is an integral part of the Holyland.
Not only that, but several of the settlements there are built on land
purchased by Jews, just as they purchased land in the rest of Israel from
the 1920's-1940s, and further the division of land in Gaza was agreed by the
PA during the Oslo Accords under Arafat (18% to Israel the rest to the PA).
But, later when he launched the violent intifada against Israel, Arafat
claimed all of it, just as he really claimed all of Israel.
Now PM Sharon has decided to go ahead with the Disengagement Plan from Gaza,
in order to remove the 8,000 or so settlers from what is really an untenable
situation, due to the extreme hostility of the local population, which has
become very pro-Hamas, as the recent local elections showed, when Hamas
received ca. 70% of the votes. Sharon has concluded not only that Israel
can never have sovereignty over Gaza, but that to cut our losses we must
withdraw from there in order to reduce the number of Arabs within Israel and
to reduce points of tension. But, many right wing Israelis view this as
giving in to the terrorists and transferring Jews while not countenancing
transferring Arabs. Add to this the religious elements, and there is
potentially a deep split within Israel itself.
In order to overcome this, PM Sharon is appealing to the religious parties
to support him. He has already persuaded United Torah Judaism to join his
coalition and he is still courting Shas. But, he lost the National
Religious Party, and because of his small majority he has had to depend on
left wing and Arab parties to pass his legislation to compensate the
settlers. This is very embarrassing to a supposedly Likud -led Government
coalition. So the meetings with Shas have taken on added significance.
Meanwhile, as an indication of the general problem, Finance Minister
Netanyahu was attacked by a group of religious youths at a wedding party at
Kfar Charade yesterday. They were quoted as shouting "it is forbidden to
uproot Jews from their homes." Although he was not hurt, they came within
distance of hitting him, and his security hustled him away. But, the tires
on his car were also slashed. In the wake of the incident security for top
Ministers is being re-evaluated. The settler movement leaders and the
Chabad movement disassociated themselves from the attack and rejected
violence. One young man from Netanya was arrested and others are being
sought.
The split within Israel over the Disengagement from Gaza will test the unity
of the State, and if Sharon decides to make further territorial concessions
to the PA in the West Bank beyond the four settlements in northern Samaria,
this could greatly exacerbate the situation.
refused to serve in Gaza, and ca. 50 IAF pilots also refused to attack Gaza.
This campaign was organized by "Peace Now" and other leftist Israeli groups
that see the Palestinians as always being in the right, notwithstanding the
wave of terrorism that killed 1,200 Israelis and injured 6,000. Of course,
leftist anti-Israel forces throughout the world jumped on this information
and made it a cause celebre, implying that the IDF was about to collapse.
Of course, nothing of the sort happened, the numbers were so miniscule, and
it turned out that a majority of the pilots involved were already retired!
Now we have a campaign of serving IDF soldiers refusing to obey orders to
remove Israeli settlers from Gaza. But, now it's really serious, because
the number involved is estimated at 10,000, and this is no small number. It
shows the relative strength of the rightist vs. leftist oriented Israelis
serving in the IDF. Of course, I am against both of them. I take the
position that no individual soldier has the right to disobey orders issued
by a constitutionally elected government, unless those orders are
specifically illegal (such as deliberately targeting civilians). We should
strive to keep politics of all types out of the IDF.
Who are these 10,000? They are principally religious soldiers who are
against the disengagement or withdrawal from Gaza. Further, many of them
follow the dictates of the religious authorities and several rabbis have
come out against the withdrawal. Their basic view is that no secular
government has the right to prevent Jews from living anywhere in historic
Eretz Israel. Those who say that Gaza is not part of that are wrong, Gaza is
mentioned many times in the Bible and is an integral part of the Holyland.
Not only that, but several of the settlements there are built on land
purchased by Jews, just as they purchased land in the rest of Israel from
the 1920's-1940s, and further the division of land in Gaza was agreed by the
PA during the Oslo Accords under Arafat (18% to Israel the rest to the PA).
But, later when he launched the violent intifada against Israel, Arafat
claimed all of it, just as he really claimed all of Israel.
Now PM Sharon has decided to go ahead with the Disengagement Plan from Gaza,
in order to remove the 8,000 or so settlers from what is really an untenable
situation, due to the extreme hostility of the local population, which has
become very pro-Hamas, as the recent local elections showed, when Hamas
received ca. 70% of the votes. Sharon has concluded not only that Israel
can never have sovereignty over Gaza, but that to cut our losses we must
withdraw from there in order to reduce the number of Arabs within Israel and
to reduce points of tension. But, many right wing Israelis view this as
giving in to the terrorists and transferring Jews while not countenancing
transferring Arabs. Add to this the religious elements, and there is
potentially a deep split within Israel itself.
In order to overcome this, PM Sharon is appealing to the religious parties
to support him. He has already persuaded United Torah Judaism to join his
coalition and he is still courting Shas. But, he lost the National
Religious Party, and because of his small majority he has had to depend on
left wing and Arab parties to pass his legislation to compensate the
settlers. This is very embarrassing to a supposedly Likud -led Government
coalition. So the meetings with Shas have taken on added significance.
Meanwhile, as an indication of the general problem, Finance Minister
Netanyahu was attacked by a group of religious youths at a wedding party at
Kfar Charade yesterday. They were quoted as shouting "it is forbidden to
uproot Jews from their homes." Although he was not hurt, they came within
distance of hitting him, and his security hustled him away. But, the tires
on his car were also slashed. In the wake of the incident security for top
Ministers is being re-evaluated. The settler movement leaders and the
Chabad movement disassociated themselves from the attack and rejected
violence. One young man from Netanya was arrested and others are being
sought.
The split within Israel over the Disengagement from Gaza will test the unity
of the State, and if Sharon decides to make further territorial concessions
to the PA in the West Bank beyond the four settlements in northern Samaria,
this could greatly exacerbate the situation.
posted by Jack Cohen at 1:46 PM
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