A soldier assigned to the Lavi Brigade refused a direct order when instructed to take part in evicting the residents of the Machpelah House in Hebron on Wednesday, 12 Nissan 5772, Kol HaYehudi reports.
He was only instructed to ‘give support’ to the front line units taking the members of the 15 families out of the building, but he told his commanders he cannot take part in any role of ousting Jews from their home in Hebron, no matter how insignificant. He was sentenced to 20 days on condition, which means if he repeats the same offence, he is automatically sent to jail to serve the sentence.
The soldier, Chananel Namir, a resident of Gilad Farm in Shomron explains he will not have a hand in removing Jews from their homes. Interestingly, the soldier had to fight his way into the IDF. He was rejected initially because he had multiple arrests for his opposition to the 2005 Disengagement Plan.
Namir visited the Hebron coffee stop for soldiers and sat out the expulsion. Border police taking part in the eviction shouted at Namir until an officer arrived and took part in the verbal dispute. Ultimately, the battalion commander arrived, Guy Chazut, and he too got into it with the soldier. Namir was threatened with punitive action against him but he remained true to his beliefs.
Namir, 20, is married and the father of two children. He was among the many ousted from his home in Gush Katif, a resident of N’vei Dekalim. His father is Dr. Sudi Namir, who was known as “the doctor of Gush Katif”.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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11 Responses
Yasher koach. A real kiddush hashem. What a pity that more of his colleagues didn’t learn from him and do the same. That is the only way these crimes will be prevented: when enough soldiers refuse to participate. When Ben Gurion ordered the new IDF navy, staffed by foreign Jewish volunteers, to sink the Altalena, they refused, saying they had come to save Jews not to kill them. So he got the rosho Yitzchak Rabin to do it instead. But the principle was established.
Even the Nazis YSh didn’t punish those soldiers who refused to participate in killing Jews; and this fact serves as an eternal indictment for those who didn’t refuse. The same principle applies here.
This should not be a debate over the pros/cons of eviction of illegal settlements or what is “illegal”. Its a simple matter that an army cannot function if each soldier can decide which lawful orders to obey. You can respect this guy’s principles but he knew when he enlisted that he might be asked to undertake security operations which would result in such evictions. He should now be prepared to pay the consequences including a court martial for disobeying an order. It would be chaos if other soldiers felt they too had the right to disobey orders they disagreed with for either political or religious reasons.
Yasher Koach.
Stand up for righteous princples and live a life of serenity.
I guess he must have watched the film on the Nuremberg trials of the nazi leaders after World War II.
They all excused themselves for their beastly actions by claiming that they “only followed orders!”
Good for him. I only hope that if my pluga is given an order to remove jews from their homes that I will have the courage to refuse the order.
kol hakavod!!
good for him!!
Kol HaKavod!
Nice to see that there ARE soldiers that remember that IDF stand for…
צבא הגנה לישראל
Israel DEFENSE Forces – an army to DEFEND Jews and NOT an army to expel Jews.
Ain chacham k’baal nisayon!
Why did the army pick him for this mission if they knew that he was a resident of Gush Katif?
#2, the order was unlawful.
#2, the order was unlawful. In Israel soldiers who obey unlawful orders go to prison. But only if the judges don’t like the unlawful order; in this case the leftist judges love it, so they’ll punish the refusing soldier rather than the soldiers who obeyed.
In any event, even if the order was lawful, he would still be right to disobey. Hashem’s law comes before all other laws. He is the Supreme Commander, and His orders override those of any lesser officer. A person must do what is right, not what he is ordered to do, and if an army can’t function like that then let it not function. Doing the right thing is more important than having the IDF run efficiently.