[this soldier's not really one of ours, but just to give you the idea...]These guys are the greatest! from Arutz Sheva News:
IDF Soldiers 'Just Say No' to Hevron Expulsion Orders
by Hana Levi Julian (IsraelNN.com)
Some 30 IDF soldiers refused to board the bus Monday morning after being told by officers that their orders to carry out operations in Judea and Samaria included the forcible eviction of two families from their homes in the former Hevron marketplace.
One unidentified father of one of the elite Duchifat unit soldiers who balked at carrying out the order stated “the soldiers are standing with determination in their refusal to participate in any part of the expulsion of Jewish families from Hevron.” Another father, Moshe Rosenfeld, said in an interview on Army Radio “My son didn’t join the army to expel Jews, but to defend them. Furthermore, this is not an operation for the army, but for the police.”
The Duchifat unit is a special counter-terrorism battalion in the Kfir Brigade of the IDF Central Command infantry division. The Kfir Brigade is the largest such unit in the IDF, and includes Netzach Yehuda and Nachal Hareidi forces. Duchifat soldiers specialize in urban combat and usually operate in the Ramallah area, with the responsibility for the protection of Jewish communities which include Beit El, Ofra and others.
A number of the soldiers who refused to get on the bus are students of Rabbi Chaim Druckman, who is guiding them through the process.
READ the rest, here.
UPDATE:
by Hana Levi Julian
(IsraelNN.com) IDF Central Commander Maj.-Gen. Gadi Shamni removed two unit commanders and 10 other soldiers from their positions in the elite Duchifat unit on Monday after they refused to participate in the expulsion of two Jewish families from their homes in the former Hevron marketplace.
Shamni said the soldiers will face a disciplinary trial for their actions. "This is a phenomenon that endangers the very base the IDF stands on," he said. "This is an army of the people, and in a democratic nation soldiers must obey orders."
4 comments:
"...in a democratic nation soldiers must obey orders."
Then Nazi Germany must've been one of the most democratic nations around....
Fer cryin' out loud! "I was just following orders" went out as an excuse with the Nuremburg trials.
-- MAOZ
Today is a great day for Israel. Some soldiers go on trial for 'refusing orders', and others are demoted for merely voicing similar opinions. I wonder if the army has the balls to go all the way and try to 'weed out' more soldiers with political 'issues'.
The left and centre made a terrible strategic mistake in actively destroying Gush Katif as it did. It could have let it slowly dry out (like it is trying to do with the Shomron). Instead, it unleased a dormant orange antagonism/backlash that will merely lead to more problems rather than the convenient status quo that the public wants.
After two hard years, we are finally learning the lessons of the expulsion: determined resistance and refusal of orders. The role of the IDF is to defend the Jewish People, and not to expel and destroy our brothers. These soldiers know for what they are fighting and putting their lives at risk, and will not let some corrupt government hijack the IDF.
Yes, I agree.
We're starting to correct the mistakes of Disengagement.
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