Someone familiar with the history and psychology and of war theory called my attention on Wednesday evening to the report about the anonymous "senior IDF officer" who told the media that, while the Israeli military is wise and exercises restraint and moderation, it lacks the natural ingredient necessary for any army: the desire to win. In a functioning democracy, the military is confident in its ability to fight and to win, and it tries to persuade the government to let it go out to battle, trumpets blaring, while it is the ministers who calm the fighting spirit. In Israel, the paradigm has been reversed. I do not share the officer's opinion, the significance of which will only be revealed with time. But it deserves to be heard. We must deal with the strange suggestion from the officer that the IDF give weapons to the Palestinian Authority and armored vehicles to its security personnel. Whether or not this would be the correct step, the "senior officer" has painted a picture of the Israel Defense Forces that does not fit in with accepted views. On Wednesday evening, we also heard the reactions from officials who were wondering why a "senior officer" in the IDF would have an approach that is the complete opposite of the one voiced on Tuesday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. From a diplomatic perspective, the words coming from the IDF and Defense Ministry do not fit in with those spoken at the Prime Minister's Office. (It was later stated that the suggestions made by the "senior officer" were not meant to be implemented immediately. However, that was not how they were originally understood.) Now, as we fight the stabbing intifada -- and that is what it is, even if we call it a "terror wave" -- we cannot take steps that reveal conflicting approaches to our defense, such as the idea of Israel providing Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas with weapons even as the PA distances itself from any effort to fight terrorism. Even if in the future providing security equipment to the PA appears to be a reasonable move, it should not be done now, when Jews are stabbed and soldiers are murdered each day. The IDF has confused everyone by saying that although terrorists run around brandishing knives and Molotov cocktails, they should not be shot before they surrender. Anyone walking around with a knife has made the decision to become a martyr. On Wednesday, it was found that the terrorist who stabbed a soldier in south Hebron had actually prepared himself to become a martyr on his Facebook page. There is no reason not to assume that such a person is not also wearing an explosive belt. We must mentally prepare for this situation to continue for a long time. And we must increase our force of combat soldiers as compared with non-combat soldiers. We must recruit reserves with a larger defense budget, so that those in mandatory service are able to train (right now; the entire training program has been disrupted). We must also complete the security fence, which caused an argument 15 years ago and has since led to partial success. The opposition of late Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government has been largely rectified, but not entirely so -- and the two most recent instances where we paid the price for the incomplete fence were the attacks in Hebron and Kiryat Gat. We must continue to fight terrorists and defend civilians and soldiers, while also searching honestly for an opportunity to renew negotiations with the Palestinians. Everything else is trivial.
