Israel Hayom..
14 September '14..
A total of 1,500 Israelis were murdered in terrorist attacks in the decade following the Oslo Accords (1993-2003). In the 10 years after that, there were nearly no attacks. This was not due to a change in the Palestinians' beliefs or motivation. It was the result of a daily war against Palestinian terrorism through military operations and intelligence, a fight that saved human lives. Obviously, the terrorists continue to employ other methods, like firing rockets and digging attack tunnels, and the struggle against them continues -- a hard one, fought every day, mostly drudgery. Thousands of soldiers and members of the security forces are part of it. Some are combat soldiers, and some are in intelligence.
The IDF's Unit 8200 is one of the most important arms in protecting the State of Israel in general, and fighting the Palestinian enemy in particular. In exhausting, daily gruntwork of bugging and intercepting information its soldiers put details together, and the information they bring in thwarts terrorist attacks by helping the Israel Defense Forces stop suicide bombers or take out a terrorist operative. They do holy work.
The state owes them a great deal and gives them a great deal in return. They enjoy much better service conditions than the combat troops. They don't put their lives at risk. And in civilian life, the knowledge and experience they acquire through the enormous resources invested in their training opens doors in the high-tech sector in Israel and abroad, as well as paving the way to top management positions in Israel.
And now, a group of reservists from the Unit 8200 has stood up and decided to throw it all away, to abandon their posts in the war on terrorism. These people in whom the government invested vast resources in training and exempted from military roles that would endanger their lives, because it understood that they were necessary to the defense of the state and the lives of its citizens, have suddenly decided not to repay the state's investment, to go AWOL from the fight, to abandon their posts, to stand by in the face of their fellow citizens' spilled blood -- the blood of children -- while continuing to get rich thanks to all we put into them.
We are talking about people who, based on their conduct and the letter they signed, seem to lack basic democratic consciousness. People who don't understand that in a democratic country citizens elect the government, the political echelon makes the decisions, the army executes the government's policy and the soldiers follow all legal orders given to them. They are trying to turn the democratic pyramid on its head -- trying, as soldiers, to rebel against the IDF in an attempt to force their political position on the Israeli democracy.
A total of 43 reservists from the Unit 8200 announced that they were going AWOL in the war on terrorism, from protecting the lives of Israeli civilians. And they have the audacity to say they will continue to serve in the military, but not against Palestinians. Elite soldiers? They have decided, in accordance with their political opinions, not to fight the enemy that is firing rockets at Israeli civilians, digging terror tunnels to use in a mass slaughter of Israelis, including children. What gall! Before any other action is taken, every one of them must be removed from the unit immediately, because in light of the current situation it's very hard to trust them.
This en masse absence without leave is an immoral act by people without a conscience. I am repulsed by the Hebrew expression "beautiful souls" that is commonly used to describe people like these. There is nothing beautiful about the souls of those who leave their posts, about those who don't see fit to protect their brothers' lives. Self-justification isn't justice and piety isn't devotion. This self-righteousness is just hypocrisy.
Link: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=9957
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