An immoral army
By Roman Bronfman
Shaul Mofaz is by all means worthy of admiration for the series of positions he held during his long period of military service. In his last position in uniform, Mofaz will be remembered mainly for the immense efforts he invested in the media arena, when he sought to underscore the IDF's image as "the most moral army in the world."
Last Friday's events, in which soldiers of "the most moral army in the world" used live fire to disperse demonstrators protesting the separation fence, casts heavy doubt on the accuracy of the image that Mofaz sought to impart to the organization he led. It may have been an innocent coincidence, or perhaps a tragic error, but the grave events are taking place under the baton of Mofaz, this time as defense minister.
Of course, out of a sense of fairness, we should wait for the findings of the investigation that was called in the aftermath of the events, and hope that those responsible for issuing a blatantly illegal order to shoot with prior warning at persons who did not pose a danger to the soldiers' lives, and most certainly not to state security, will be put on trial.
It can only be hoped that they will indeed be placed on trial and will also be given heavy penalties for a mistake in judgment that nearly led to loss of life. For that to happen, a serious and independent investigation is necessary, and it is therefore preferable that it be conducted by external parties.
In the hope that the wounded man will recover from his serious injury, it will be possible to end this sad chapter in IDF history. But it will be a lot more difficult to shake off the sense that there is a severe crisis of trust between the military establishment and the civil establishment in Israel. A crisis of trust that gives rise to a stark feeling that the image about which Mofaz spoke so often is but an empty shell, concealing a rotten organization beneath it. One might ask if our army is not only not the most moral army in the world, but also if it suffers from a lack of morality and has been exposed in all its ugliness, sagging under the burden of the missions the current intifada and the public wrangling over it have placed on our soldiers.
By any logical criteria, the burden of the missions, and their sensitivity, cannot justify illegal or immoral actions. The military mission will always place the soldier before a tough dilemma - the need to decide between sticking with the mission and completing it at all costs, and the need to uphold ethical standards of conduct; the same standards that the soldier brings from home or acquires in his army training.
The belief that there is full congruence between the norms of universal morality and the challenges faced by a soldier during operational actions he is sent to execute is the condition on which parents will send their sons to do their civic duty. It is also the requisite condition for the willingness of the soldier to give over three years of his life for the lofty objective of protecting our nation's security. And when this faith is fractured, we witness phenomena such as avoiding the draft or conscientious objection during or after enlistment.
Indeed, numerous parties, both in the military establishment and in civil society, are well aware of the lack of morality inherent to Israel's control of the territories of Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Our bravest soldiers have expressed this concern on several recent occasions that received heavy media coverage, at a time when there is increasing ferment within mainstream Israeli society in response to the situation. This is borne out by a poll conducted last week by the Israel Democracy Institute, which highlighted a worrisome finding: 28 percent support for soldiers who refuse to take part in the IDF's 36-year march of folly in the occupied territories. Similar findings emerged from a poll that surveyed viewpoints on this issue among the youth, which revealed similar percentages of support.
The government of Israel must immediately take a decision to put an end to the occupation, if only to prevent the continued dissolution of the IDF and a repeat of events of the sort that have traumatized the country in the past few days. Perhaps more than anything else, these events drive home the message of the familiar slogan: The occupation corrupts.
The writer is a member of Knesset for Meretz/Democratic Choice.
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