Nope, You Don't Get To Do That
Sorry, he's a criminal not a hero:
A U.S.-born soldier who refused to take part in an Israel Defense Forces operation to demolish vacant buildings near a Gaza Strip settlement will face a disciplinary hearing on Tuesday headed by Gaza Division commander Colonel David Menachem.
We didn't let the refusniks get away with disobeying the elected - and still very stable - government of Israel. Bravado aside, soldiers don't get to make their own decisions for anything short of crimes against humanity (and no matter what anyone says, walking into settlements unarmed after offering millions in compensation may smack of expulsion, but it's simply. not. the. same. thing. as ethnic cleansing). This guy will be arrested. He will be tried. And he will be thrown in prison.
And while I'm on the subject, Lynn is right that Jews should feel very, very uncomfortable expelling anyone - Jew or Arab - from their homes. But surely moving tens of thousands of settlers inside the Green Line is less immoral than what it would take to remove 3 million Arabs from between the Jordan and the Mediterranean. And as long as those Arabs are there, there will be ever-increasing international pressure for Israel to go to the negotiating table with them. The civilian and legitimately elected government of the Jewish State has correctly decided that Israel can leave the territories now under OK terms or leave them later under terms not of their choosing. The military infrastructure now has a duty to follow through on that decision.
[Cross-posted on IsraPundit]
A U.S.-born soldier who refused to take part in an Israel Defense Forces operation to demolish vacant buildings near a Gaza Strip settlement will face a disciplinary hearing on Tuesday headed by Gaza Division commander Colonel David Menachem.
We didn't let the refusniks get away with disobeying the elected - and still very stable - government of Israel. Bravado aside, soldiers don't get to make their own decisions for anything short of crimes against humanity (and no matter what anyone says, walking into settlements unarmed after offering millions in compensation may smack of expulsion, but it's simply. not. the. same. thing. as ethnic cleansing). This guy will be arrested. He will be tried. And he will be thrown in prison.
And while I'm on the subject, Lynn is right that Jews should feel very, very uncomfortable expelling anyone - Jew or Arab - from their homes. But surely moving tens of thousands of settlers inside the Green Line is less immoral than what it would take to remove 3 million Arabs from between the Jordan and the Mediterranean. And as long as those Arabs are there, there will be ever-increasing international pressure for Israel to go to the negotiating table with them. The civilian and legitimately elected government of the Jewish State has correctly decided that Israel can leave the territories now under OK terms or leave them later under terms not of their choosing. The military infrastructure now has a duty to follow through on that decision.
[Cross-posted on IsraPundit]
