Israel Matzav

Mutiny in the IDF?

Ehud Barach (Ehud Fled), who cowardly pulled Israel's troops out of southern Lebanon in the dark of night seven years ago, precipitating the 'Palestinian' intifada less than two months later and facilitating Hezbullah's war on the Jews last summer, plans to deploy THREE THOUSAND IDF troops tomorrow to expel two Jewish families from Jewish-owned buildings in the Hebron marketplace. That will sure prepare the IDF for the next war in Lebanon.

In their letters to Barak, [Attorney Yaakov] Neeman [a former Justice Minister and Finance Minister CiJ] and the Hebron Jewish community said the marketplace was owned by Jews and had been operated by them prior to the 1929 Hebron massacre that destroyed the Jewish community.

Following the War of Independence in 1948, Jordan took control and gave it to the Custodian of Abandoned Properties. The market was leased to the Hebron Municipality, which allowed the merchants to stay. That situation continued after Israel reclaimed the area in 1967.

The Palestinian merchants were expelled in 1994 and the shops remained empty until 2001, when Jews moved in. In September 2006, two Jewish families returned to the empty shops.

In his letter to Barak, Neeman said it was illogical to ask Jewish families to leave property that was owned by Jews, in the name of an empty marketplace that had not been operational for 13 years, and for which there was no plan to release to Palestinian merchants.

After they moved into the Hebron marketplace in 2001, the Jewish families left it in 2005 as part of a deal in which the IDF promised to 'legalize' their presence there on a permanent basis. But as so often happens in this country, the IDF said "oops" and did not live up to its commitment. (As an aside, this may be the only country in the western world where the government promises something, then after you've changed your position based on the promise the government says "oops, we made a mistake" and then proceeds as if the promise had never been made without compensating you).

“We agreed to a negotiated deal a year and a half ago,” says spokesman David Wilder. “We kept our side, they reneged – this will not happen again.”

Wilder is referring to the old marketplace adjacent to Hevron’s Avraham Avinu neighborhood, where nine families and a yeshiva were located prior to an agreement reached with the IDF in 2005. “The community was given a firm promise, in the form of an agreement with the commander of forces in Judea and Samaria, General Yair Golan, that following our voluntary exit from the homes, families would soon be allowed to 'legally' return,” Wilder explained. “That was a year and a half ago. The agreement was voided by Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, using the excuse that Golan was not authorized to make the agreement. This, despite the fact that the General was on and off the phone with his bosses in the Defense Ministry during the meeting with Hebron representatives in order to receive their OK to the compromise.”

Hevron officials say they are once again being promised that if they leave willingly a quiet return to the marketplace will be arranged in the future. A similar episode took place with the Beit Shapira house – which remains sealed and empty to this day. “We've been through that one too many times,” Wilder said. “The property is Jewish property. A military appeals court recommended that the buildings be leased to the Hebron Jewish community. This too was rejected. What more do they want?”

The answer to Wilder’s query seems to be in the buildup of troops and Yassam riot police around the region in recent days. The two families living in the neighborhood in question, the Bar Kochbas and Yahaloms, say they are not going anywhere, despite claims by security officials that they will be charged for their own eviction.

But in all this darkness, there is a small ray of light. Haaretz, Israel's Hebrew 'Palestinian' daily, is reporting that some 20-30 IDF troops are refusing to take part in tomorrow's expulsion. In case the significance of its being in Haaretz is lost on any of you, please allow me to explain. If Arutz Sheva (Israel National News) were reporting this, it could be dismissed as misplaced optimism. Haaretz's slant on the world is that no 'normal' Israelis want us to retain Hebron. But IDF combat troops - even if they are religious soldiers - cannot be regarded as anything but normal. So this article clearly goes against Haaretz's world-view (okay, it was written by one of their token religious reporters). And one is tempted to assume that there are actually a lot more than 20-30 troops who are 'avoiding' taking part in the expulsion:

The soldiers, who are mostly religious troops conscripted in accordance with the Hesder program, informed their commanders that they would not agree to take over positions from Border Police troops in the West Bank, in order to allow the Border Policemen to remove the Hebron settlers.

The soldiers announced their decision after consulting with their rabbis, who instructed them not play any role in the evacuation, including an indirect one.

The soldiers are currently undergoing advanced training, and are employing various methods to avoid replacing the Border Police troops. Some have informed their commanders that they will refuse direct orders, while others have simply managed to receive sick leave. In general, the commanders have been sympathetic to the soldiers, and promised to try to find a way to alter the mission.

As I have noted before, the Hesder troops constitute a disproportionate number of the IDF's combat soldiers and officer corps. IDF Chief of Personnel Elazar Stern, who is religious himself, has tried to undermine Hesder's cohesion by forcing the troops to be integrated with the rest of the IDF. What would happen if 3000 IDF troops refuse to participate tomorrow? Maybe this is the start of the Jews taking back the country from the 'Israelis.'

If not, we could have another Amona on our hands tomorrow.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:10 AM