One soldier's father said on the radio (Army Radio, Galei Tzahal) this morning; "My son was trained to be a sniper, he was trained to ambush the enemy. It is not his job to kick Jews out of their homes from Me'arat HaMachpelah. [in Hevron]"
After hearing it reported live, on the radio, I found it here on YNET:
Thirty yeshiva students serving in the IDF have announced that they will not take part in the evacuation of two Jewish families from the Hebron wholesale market after consulting their rabbis.
The story was first reported by Army Radio. The soldiers, from the Kfir Brigade's Duchifat battalion, were slated to replace a Border Guard force on Tuesday and take part in the forced evacuation.
Following their protest, their commanders sat with them and explained the importance of the mission. The potential "refusniks" were also told that those who will not carry out the mission will be treated severely by the army.
IDF officials clarified that the soldiers have so far not declared that they will not get on the buses to the Hebron market and are continuing their regular training.
Meanwhile, a special fund headed by an American millionaire has spread the word among troops in Hebron that a soldier who will refuse an evacuation order will receive a financial award of hundreds of dollars. If a soldier is tried over refusing an order he could receive $600.
UPDATE: Forget the above -- this is MUCH better (new comments from the families of the soldiers)Meanwhile, however, family members of some of the soldiers arrived at the Bekaot army base and threatened to block the buses. One of the signs they prepared read, "My son, don't expel."
We came here to say: If they want to evacuate Jews they should send the police or the Yasam unit, rather than IDF soldiers," said Tomer, one of the soldiers' brother.
"My brother and his friends were sent to replace Border Guard officers to evacuate Jews, and this is definitely helping evacuation. This is not a suitable mission for an army which is supposed to defend the State of Israel. The army should not be a partner to the expulsion of Jews from the city of our forefathers, and we are here to help our brothers from Hebron," he told Ynet.
The brother, who fought in Lebanon last summer, explained, "I did not refuse an order then because it was defending the State of Israel. Then they also knew how to recruit yeshiva students because they needed manpower, because the other guys were sitting in Azrieli (Tel Aviv shopping mall) – those sons of important people, who don’t even know how to hold weapons."
He added angrily, "I did not see an Arab father or an Arab woman evacuated from a mosque, but I did see a Jew expel a Jews from a synagogue."
His father claimed that the army had lied to his son and their friends when it did not tell them about the mission's objective.
"They were told to prepare a field package. It wasn't real. The army is lying shamelessly. Our children did not take a snipers' course in order to evacuate Jews from Hebron," he said.
Shmuel, the father of another soldier, said, "All the soldiers did a big Kiddush Hashem (sanctifying the name of God). It's time they learn not to use the army for such things. An army should be run according to what is permitted. A Jewish army should be run according to the ways of the people of Israel and not of a political gang."
It's no wonder that the IDF performed so poorly last summer; instead of concentrating on training to win wars against our enemies, the political echelons are abusing the IDF to expel Jews from their homes in Gush Katif...and now in Hebron.
There's an Israeli police force that's trained to evict people from their homes...using the IDF is more proof of the idiocy of Israel's leadership. Our leaders are truly pathetic; instead of Defense Minister Ehud Barak using his head, and try to retain some level of unity in the IDF, he uses commando units from yeshivot to help further his political agenda of throwing Jews out of their homes in Hevron. The police is an option...but he uses the IDF.
Don't get me wrong; I think the wording of the prayer for the safety for IDF soldiers is perfect:
May Hashem who blessed our forefathers, bless the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces, who stand guard over our land and the cities of our G-d.It's the soldiers who deserve G-d's blessing and protection, when they are doing the job of protecting our land.
I will continue to stand for this prayer every week.
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael
