Q&A: Soldiers’ Refusal
Soldiers’ Refusal
Question
Recently, voices have started to be heard from soldiers who refuse to serve in Gaza or Lebanon because they see that this war has no purpose or goals at all. All the goals that were set are far from being realized, and we all know that they probably will not be achieved, so in effect all those who fall are falling in vain. In your opinion, is such refusal legitimate?? It seems that the refusal does not stem from opposition to this or that political system, but from a desire not to fall in vain.
Answer
It is hard for me to answer. If they are very convinced of this, then perhaps there is some justification for it. But I do not think that in the current situation, based on the information available to the public, one can reach a clear conclusion on the matter. Therefore, it is not reasonable to justify refusal in such a situation.
Discussion on Answer
I am also in favor of refusal. But from the opposite direction. The only solution that will work is mass killing—hundreds of thousands—of Gazans, who are our real enemy and not Hamas, which grew from among them. Even if we completely destroy Hamas and then again give the Gazans full independence, very quickly a new organization like Hamas will arise there, just under a different name, and rule there. The Gazans are the ones who hate us and want to kill us. Hamas is only the arm holding the rifle. And when someone shoots at you, you do not shoot at his arm but at center mass.
Soldiers are dying in vain in order to spare their enemies because of empty legal definitions. So that senior IDF officers will not have arrest warrants issued against them abroad and will be able to travel there.
There is no need to control or enter Gaza. Only a retaliatory blow beyond all imagination. And if there is no choice, total expulsion or total annihilation. Like Amalek. You know, the animals can be left alive…..
The problem is that our pilots will refuse to do this because of their foolish beliefs and emptiness. As stated, a force with no real usefulness
This is the beginning of the slide down the slippery slope that people talked about during the period of refusal by opponents of the reform. Little by little a norm is being created according to which every snot-nosed nobody carries out his own assessment of security policy, and based on his conclusions decides whether it is right to obey orders or not. Aside from short-sightedness, people have lost their humility, especially when they are part of a movement that has a charismatic leader. It is not very different from the anti-Israel demonstrators around the world, where interviews with them show that they do not know even the most basic details of the conflict.
True, but there is another side: if we do not allow ourselves to make such decisions, the leadership can do anything outrageous and we will all cooperate. So there is no choice but to educate people that they are allowed to make such decisions, but cautiously. Fears of slippery slopes will bring the problem upon us from the other side.
The decision-makers always have more information. First of all, they have the information about from what motives they themselves are making the decisions (which we cannot know). But there is also intelligence information, and information about the level of American pressure and that of others, and questions of relations with the other Arab states, and intelligence information about Hamas and about the chances of winning the war, and so on and so on. Clearly they have much more information. The question is what they do with the information and whether they are acting correctly in light of it.
A. Does the Rabbi think that the decision-makers have information that the public lacks?
B. Is there no value in killing evil people, trying to defeat a terror organization, and trying to save the hostages, even if the chance that the mission will be completed is slim?