Not for uniformed officers
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon's speech Sunday evening, delivered on the heels of Independence Day, included a number of central components that were a honey-tongued effort to ratify the worldview of Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, regarding the spiritual and moral essence of the Israel Defense Forces.
So too was his demand of combat soldiers to stay true to their opinions in the face of contradicting axioms held among the senior command and among the political echelon. It was a lofty speech that warned against the penetration of extremist elements that endanger the rule of law and human dignity. Still, two gloomy clouds hovered above Ya'alon's speech.
The first is that freedom of expression, which the IDF has taken care to practice since the time of Ben-Gurion, cannot slide into the political realm. Certain statements may be made by any public figure or ordinary citizen, but not by uniformed officers. An officer speaking on behalf of the IDF cannot attack a court decision to demolish illegal buildings in the outpost of Amona, nor can he or he or she call on the government to annex Judea and Samaria. That is outside their realm.
Purity of arms? Human dignity? Acceptance of the other? The right to equality? These lofty values that Ya'alon mentioned on Sunday are cornerstones that the IDF should not only accept, but promote. This was an important part of the defense minister's speech and one that was agreed upon.
The second cloud looming over Ya'alon's speech was the fact that it followed the ongoing dispute between him and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the meaning behind Deputy IDF Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Yair Golan's statements on Holocaust Remembrance Day. Golan's comparison of Israeli society to 1930s Germany is fundamentally mistaken because hooliganism undertaken by terrorists, even if backed by Habayit Hayehudi MK Bezalel Smotrich, bears no resemblance to terrorism against minorities carried out by the state and on the leader's orders, as occurred in Germany in the 1930s.
Netanyahu was right to comment about it, but mistaken to repeat his comments in a party forum (before Likud ministers) -- though he did well to say the incident "is behind us." And yet, on Sunday evening, the debate was renewed with the prime minister's reaction to Ya'alon's speech. The conclusion that can be drawn here is that a misunderstanding has developed between the two, and Golan's speech is no more than the rack upon which they have hung their dispute.
What started this disagreement? The Right's attacks on Ya'alon and the Likud court's demand to discuss his defense policy in a party forum, as well as the emphasis in his Sunday night speech on thanking U.S. President Barack Obama. There is clear irritability and friction between the two officials due to the rumors that accompany reports of Labor or Yisrael Beytenu joining the coalition, and the changes that would mean for the distribution of ministerial portfolios. The political forecast is hot and humid.
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