The IDF's will to win
, עודכן
In August 1998, a Hezbollah terrorist infiltrated an outpost then held by the Israel Defense Forces in Sujud, in the northeast part of the security zone in southern Lebanon. Although the terrorist did not manage to hurt anyone, he slipped out of the outpost without soldiers of the Paratroopers Brigade being able to catch him. Then IDF Chief of General Staff Shaul Mofaz, who had assumed the position only a month earlier, used the incident as an opportunity to demonstrate his leadership for the first time. The "will to win" returned to the military lexicon and with it the determination of all soldiers to overcome any military obstacles.
Thirteen years have passed since then and Mofaz's favored subordinate, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, is now chief of general staff. Had he found a moment on Tuesday to contemplate the events that took place the previous night at the Ephraim Brigade headquarters in Judea and Samaria, he would surely have admitted that there was no victory there.
The words of scared soldiers who hid in their rooms at the army base out of fear of the invaders, the lack of arrests of the rioters and their departure from the base unharmed, should all raise a red flag.
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We can talk all day long about an "elite" military unit having "operational superiority," but if an IDF division - which should be on constant alert for terrorist infiltration attempts, and which underwent countless training sessions in how to confront violent outbursts before the September Palestinian statehood bid at the U.N. - is caught with its pants down, there is cause for concern. Even without falling victim to the cliche of wondering what would have happened if the invaders had been Palestinian, it is impossible to escape from the bottom line: The IDF emerged humiliated and terrified after Monday night's attack on the Ephraim Brigade's base.
As expected, the IDF unloaded its frustration over the incident by blaming everyone else: the police, who did not arrive fast enough to stop the rioters; the rabbis, who grant legitimacy to the perpetrators; the government ministries who directly or indirectly finance the extremists, and of course, the legal system, which exercises leniency on their arrest and on the law. All of this, of course, is true and begs for a solution. The government need not convene in emergency meetings or create special committees to know the obvious and restate what defense officials have been crying out for years: that the Judea and Samaria District Police lacks the mandate and the means, and is hesitant to, confront lawbreakers there; that radical rabbis, whose names are all well-known, endorse extremist activities to a large extent; that quite a few yeshivas and institutions receive funding from the state, and in return breed wild thugs; and that judges easily release perpetrators from their detentions and convict them only in extreme cases.
All of this was also well known when, in recent months, price-tag activities against Palestinians and acts of intimidation against IDF and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) officials broke out here. Those who did not act after vehicles and buildings were vandalized and damaged at the military base in Binyamin, or after former Judea and Samaria Brigade Commander Brig. Gen. Nitzan Alon was threatened and attacked, were served up with Monday night's events. And those who do not act now, after what one top general has described as "a hatred toward our soldiers which I have never seen," should not be surprised if the next attack costs us soldiers' lives or sparks unprecedented clashes or even a new intifada.
And when this happens, it will be the IDF itself that demands action, the same IDF that was attacked Monday night, the same IDF whose soldiers sacrifice their lives every day to protect the extremists who attacked them, the same IDF known as "the people's army." And when this happens, we, the people, would do well to restore its confidence and its will to win. Otherwise, the evil spirit that has recently been sown in Judea and Samaria will thrust us into a devastating storm.
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