IDF soldiers are reportedly fuming over a new Knesset law that bans smoking indoors at army bases (reported HERE on YWN). “Historically, cigarettes have been at the center of day-to-day life in the army,” Baruch Levi, head of the IDF Veterans Association told the Jewish Forward. “In times of tension, when decisions needed making and plans formulating, it was done among smoke.”
One soldier from Haifa stated, “I cannot believe that we are being told that one of the few ways of relieving stress is against the rules. We will ignore this.”
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11 Responses
leave the ones who protect you alone if this is how they releave stress they need it!!!!!!!
soldiers of war should be exempt from this law. terror of war and its consequences does not deserve this kind of ban.its absurd.
So the liberal waco’s running the country are affecting others not just the charedim.
I really feel bad for the soldiers. It`s a hard ban for them but it really is for their own ultimate good. What would we say if drugs were their necessary stress reliever? “AAh Poor Soldiers let them have what they need?” Over 10000 Israelis die every year due to smoking related diseases! First hand, soldiers admit that a soldier has almost no choice but to smoke due to the tremendous PEER PRESSURE and SMOKING PREVALENCE in the army, and that`s not even taking account those who withstand the pressure, decide not to smoke and yet are damaged by second hand smoke.
SMOKING KILLS AND HARMS OUR HEALTH. The less places a soldier is allowed to smoke and the more difficutlt it is for him to have his cigarrette, the better! And they`ll be surprised by the alternative, healthier stress relievers they find!
I truly hope they find effective ways to enforce this new law for all our good.
“In times of tension, when decisions needed making and plans formulating, it was done among smoke.”
“I cannot believe that we are being told that one of the few ways of relieving stress is against the rules. We will ignore this.”
With all due respect, welcome to civilization and CE 2008. Smoking, for all its “stress-relieving” properties, is deadly to the smoker and those around him.
Also, these are grown men (and women) fighting life-and-death battles. Yet they seem to whine like babies that they need their bottle, I mean cigarettes?
There is no excuse for smoking to be permitted anywhere, no matter the situation.
Well put, Olam HaTorah.
This ruling is insane. To just order “non-smoking” into an army is to halve it’s fighting capacity and destroy it’s morale. You want to stop soldiers from smoking? Do it with incentives, not orders.
Do you want wheezing, coughing soldiers with black lungs protecting you? honestly, when will people abandon the notion that smoking is manly, or macho – it’s not. it’s just dirty..learn some agadata to relieve the stress instead
As someone that served in the IDF for 5 years including the first Galil war back in 1982-1985 this is a good thing. I remember guys that could not finish simple obstacle course because of their smoking. They need to have better education in the schools first!
HaKatan,
You really are a Katan. You speak on things you seemingly know nothing about. My guess is that you never smoked, or that you “walked on the wild side” and had a few smokes and thats why you think that anyone can just give it up. Do a little research on addiction first, than formulate a valid opinion.
Nicotine addiction is stronger than heroin addiction. Stopping someone from smoking greatly reduces their chances of acquiring diseases which, in 1/3 of smokers, will shorten their life significantly.
HOWEVER, whether it is wise to totally eliminate legal cigarette smoking amongst soldiers, who often face dangers more immediate than lung cancer decades away, is something that is complex.
Preventing the onset of smoking can save lives, but preventing people from having an occasional smoke to relieve their sense of sense, when they are soldiers, is something else.