These are historic times for the people of Israel. The country stands before what may be some of its defining moments.
Next Monday morning, as the Jewish people emerge from the nine days of mourning that culminates with Tisha B’Av on Sunday, Israel will begin its disengagement from Gaza and parts of the West Bank.
Nearly 9,000 residents of the Gaza Strip have been asked to leave their homes, accept government assistance and create a new home within the current borders of the state. If they don’t leave willingly by Wednesday morning, Aug. 15, they will be carried from their homes by force.
Some have already gone. Surely with great pain and likely after some protest, they packed up their homes, collected an average of $360,000 per family and moved. I cannot imagine their grief and frustration.
Others view the Knesset’s (parliament’s) withdrawal decision as an edict against the Jewish people, a ruling that must not be obeyed. For them, next Monday marks a day of shame and protest; and for some of them, it is the moment of truth in their struggle against the Israeli government.
There is certainly a range of opinions, beliefs and feelings for and against the decision to leave Gaza and parts of the West Bank. But beyond the arguments over the disengagement or compliance with this Knesset decision, this step in Israel’s history has brought out the worst in some of her people.
“Military refusers” in Israel used to indicate left-leaning soldiers who refused to guard settlements and settlers, who declared their complete disagreement with Israel’s presence in Gaza and the West Bank. These refusers have been punished and served time in military prisons.
A new brand of refusers has emerged with this latest conflict. They have declared their intention not to follow orders, as a principled declaration of disagreement with the Israeli decision to disengage. They have been molded primarily by a number of rabbis in West Bank settlements, who delivered edicts urging soldiers to disobey orders.
Certainly there are legitimate forms of protest, but these rabbis have crossed a dangerous line. Encouraging chaos in this way is nothing short of irresponsible. Its price is the potential unraveling of order and real questions about the viability of a future Jewish state.
Like the leftist refusers, these refusers should be punished and imprisoned. The rabbis who call for their rebellion should also be held accountable.
In their protest plan distributed on Monday, Aug. 8, the anti-disengagement and pro-settler group Women in Green wrote, “We must … realize: every policeman and soldier who consents to participate in the deportation turns himself from a brother into an enemy in the service of a corrupt dictator, who seeks to achieve the Hamas program of the deportation of Jews, the destruction of Jewish settlements, and the handing over to the enemy of portions of the homeland.”
By following military orders, to carry out policies determined by a democratically-elected civilian government, soldiers become enemies? That is dangerous and vitriolic language. It echoes, reverberates and creates chaos.
We’ve already seen a result of that attitude with Israel Defense Force deserter Eden Natan Zada’s murder spree on a bus in the Israeli Arab village of Shfaram. Zada most recently lived in the West Bank town of Tapuach, which has been described by many as an incubator for Israeli extremism.
Another particularly disturbing aspect of this conflict is the abuse of Holocaust language and imagery. It began when settlers wore orange Stars of David, akin to the yellow ones that Nazis forced the Jews to wear.
Then Jews wrote numbers on their arms, like the numbers tattooed onto the arms of Jews at concentration camp gates. Protesters regularly shout “Nazi,” “traitor,” “murderer” to soldiers and police.
Regardless of one’s political position, this cheapening of the Holocaust is an inexcusable affront to the dead and the survivors. We should know better.
Perhaps it’s naïve to imagine that our people could have come together in crisis, in spite of our disagreements. But in revealing the gulf between us and allowing ourselves to flow in that stream of division, mistrust and hate, we may have become our own worst enemies.
Beyond the punditry, the passions and the tension, one thing is clear: Those who leave their homes in Gaza and the West Bank are paying a huge price and should be praised.
They are being asked to tear their lives from the earth that has been their home, to pack their belongings, leave the gardens they’ve planted and, in many cases, their livelihoods, and begin again.
In the face of intense pressure from disengagement foes, they are accepting enormous responsibility as citizens in a civilized and democratic nation. Those who leave their homes next week are making a great sacrifice for the sake of their country and should be treated as heroes.
As we sit on the edge of our seats in the coming weeks, may our prayers be effective. May the people of Israel find wisdom and peace.
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