Israel Matzav

Which political party will have the courage to take him?

A year and a half ago, Lieutenant Colonel Shalom Eisner was caught on camera slamming his rifle butt into the face of a Danish 'peace activist' member of the terror-supporting International Solidarity Movement who was part of an illegal 'bike ride' in the Jordan Valley.

On Thursday, Eisner was sentenced to two months of community service, after which he will be discharged from the army. This is called a 'plea bargain.'

The sentence came as part of a plea deal that Eisner struck with the Military Advocate General in September.

According to the indictment filed against him, Eisner attacked five foreign and Palestinian activists  with his weapon and his hands who were taking part in an unauthorized protest bicycle ride in the Jordan Valley in April 2012.

Eisner maintained that his actions against the protesters were warranted but that he chose to "swallow" the plea bargain despite the fact that he would "pay a public price for it," Channel 2 reported. 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres condemned his actions at the time of the incident.

And here's what the media would like you to forget about this incident from 20 months ago.

1. Eisner was attacked before the incident (and broke his hand), but that's not recorded because the IDF's camera battery ran out.

2. A longer video of the incident - not what was shown on television - shows that the protesters were far from peaceful. 

3. Eisner's soldiers came to his defense.

4. The way Eisner was treated - he was immediately suspended and his promotion was barred for two years - caused prominent columnist Ben Dror Yemini to ask whether we have gone mad.

5. Most Israelis were at least sympathetic toward Eisner, saying that he should not have been suspended, that the harsh reaction against him was caused by the media, and that they identified with him.

6. The Danes deal much more harshly with protesters than Eisner did.

7. Michael Coren did a wonderful piece of commentary on Eisner on Canadian television.

8. LATMA did a great piece apologizing to the terror supporter.

Former IDF Chief Rabbi Avichai Ronski ripped the sentence today.

Former IDF Chief Rabbi Avichai Ronski strongly criticized the sentencing, telling Arutz Sheva "it's a disgrace for a colonel to do community service." He added that the incident should be learned from, so that "a situation in which a commander is held on trial for professional mistakes won't happen again."

You might recall that Ronski himself left the army after Leftist politicians objected to him handing out the Jewish laws of war to IDF troops entering Gaza.

Eisner was a hero of the Second Lebanon War. In this country, war heroes go to business or to politics. Which political party will take Eisner in? It's a shame that Moshe Feiglin isn't the chairman of the Likud, because he is probably the only Knesset member in the current Knesset who would have the guts to take Eisner into his party.

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

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:52 PM