Israel Matzav

The soldiers stick up for the commander

Getting back to the Red Sox, on Sunday, I saw an item on Boston.com that said that Manager Bobby Valentine had said on the radio that Yuke (Kevin Youklis - the Sox's only Jewish player at various times in his career) wasn't giving his all this year. Today, Dustin Pedroia, the team's unofficial leader, came to Yuke's defense, saying that the manager doesn't understand that we stick together in Boston and the manager doesn't go around criticizing players in public.

In the IDF, the soldiers are supposed to stick together, even though sometimes the 'political echelon' doesn't get it. And so, a group of soldiers under his command has come to the defense of Lieutenant Colonel Shalom Eisner, who is accused of hitting a terror supporting ISM 'activist' with his rifle without provocation.

Eighty-three reservist officers and soldiers who served under the lieutenant colonel who was videotaped striking a Danish pro-Palestinian activist with an M-16 rifle, sent a letter addressed to IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz and Defense Minister Ehud Barak in which they expressed "support and appreciation" for their "moral and ethical commander."

The combatants said that throughout his military career, Shalom Eisner has "safeguarded the values and spirit of the IDF" and "was highly sensitive to his soldiers' needs." This sensitivity, they said, was also displayed when Eisner "came to the aid of a pregnant Palestinian woman on the Jordan Valley Highway."

The combatants further wrote, "We are convinced that you will take (Eisner's) many achievements into consideration when you discuss which measures will be taken against him."

By the way, does anyone else think that the fact that Eisner wears a kipa (skullcap) and apparently has a 'sfira beard' (we don't shave during either the first 33 or the last 33 days of the 49-day Omer period) might have something to do with the army's reaction to this incident? Well, someone else does. Sort of.

Dov Lior, a prominent rightist rabbi, said the "hypocritical condemnations" of the incident are meant to "appease the nations of the world. Thus, they serve our enemies at home and abroad and deal a severe blow to the IDF."

Just sayin'....

Labels: IDF, International Solidarity Movement, Jordan Valley, Palestinian terrorism

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:53 AM