The incident resulted in anger and embarrassment, as well as possibly resulting in the ousting of soldiers, but during the Kosel swearing-in ceremony of the Shimshon infantry soldiers on Thursday night, some soldiers lifted a large sign stating “Shimshon Battalion soldiers do not carry out expulsions at Chomesh”.
The move does indeed represent a blatant IDF violation demanding a total separation from expressing a political belief, but these soldiers’ love and commitment to Eretz Yisrael has pushed military rule aside, and they may be a price for expressing their position.
This was not just a spontaneous act, but prompted by the fact many a Shimshon soldier was ordered to take part in evicting Jews from the N. Shomron communities of Chomesh and SaNur, where the battalion serves.
The Office of the IDF Spokesman called the incident “unusual” and “shameful”, explaining the brigade commander, Colonel Oren Abman will have to consider the future service in his unit of the soldiers involved.
One mother quoted by Ynet said, “We are not settlers, but we are proud of our children and of the fact that they are not robots. They were drafted to the army for military service in order to fight the enemy, not Jews.”
Members of the Chomesh First organization praised the act and congratulated the soldiers for taking a step towards restoring the pride back to the IDF. The organization’s message to the media added that unlike outgoing IDF Central District Commander Major-General Gadi Shamni, there are those who learned the lessons of the IDF’s taking part in the 2005 expulsion of Jews from their homes.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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5 Responses
How sad that it is not OBVIOUS that Jewish soldiers do NOT expel Jews from settling ANYWHERE in ERETZ YISRAEL. How sad that soldiers may be in trouble for stating what should be obvious and what should be the norm. How sad that after the expulsion from Gush Katif and the resulting turning of that area from a magnificent Jewish community into a swamp of yishmaeli terrorist vermin, that the government has STILL not learned that security comes ONLY from trust in HaSh-m and NOT trust in Washington DC!!!
Way to go brothers!
No army anywhere can function with this kind of breach of discipine. I’d be intrigued if there is any vet out there who would disagree.
Protests against the government’s policies may be admirable and needed – but so is a well disciplined IDF. The protests need to be made in a different venue.
No, Yonason, it is the politicization of the IDF that needs to be made in a different venue. As long as the IDF remains a political tool of the gov’t rather than the ISRAELI DEFENSE FORCES that it should be, this should and MUST continue!
#3 YonasanW – The purpose of the IDF is to DEFEND Israel from its enemies, NOT to expel Jews from their homes because of the (SICK) politics of a warped government. It is good to let the government know that (at least some) Jewish soldiers are NOT going to be like the germans who claimed at their trials after WW2 that they were “JUST FOLLOWING ORDERS”. WE (like certain frankfurters) “answer to a HIGHER AUTHORITY” than the Baraks, Livnis, etc.!!!