Israelis have forgotten what it means to commit to their country - opinion

Do members of Israel’s ruling coalition think that the country has two militaries? Unless they do, it is hard to understand what some of these people are hoping to achieve with their relentless attacks against the IDF and the generals in command.

Here are just some of the pearls of wisdom we have heard this past week: Dudi Amsalem – a Likud minister who somehow has a title that gives him some authority over the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission – said that there “is a rebellion in the army and they need to be dealt with like rebels are dealt with in militaries.”

If anyone was wondering what Amsalem was referring to, they are welcome to read up on how some militaries in the world treat treason and put down alleged rebellions.

Then there was Yair Netanyahu, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son, who has been spending the last few months in Miami, where he still benefits from Shin Bet security guards funded by the state. The younger Netanyahu has been mostly off social media in the last few months ever since his self-imposed exile. The events of the last few weeks though were too much for him, and Yair shared a post that called IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi “the biggest failure and most destructive chief of staff in history”.

Why are Israel's military commanders under attack from within?

And why did all of this happen? Because Halevi and commander of the Israel Air Force Tomer Bar, dared to reveal to the public, the true state of affairs in the military and how the judicial reform has undermined the military’s level of preparedness due to the growing number of reservists who are refusing to continue to serve.

The fact that Halevi and Bar have both repeatedly criticized the pilots refusing to serve and their supporters, makes no difference. They made public what is really happening, something that Netanyahu and his ministers preferred to keep quiet.

Likud MK Tally Gotliv explained this on Wednesday, accusing Halevi of “authorizing refusal of orders” and “weakening Israel and its military.”

WHILE THE younger Netanyahu eventually deleted the post, he, Amsalem, and Gotliv should do themselves a favor and read Halevi’s personnel file to understand what he has done over the last 40 years in the IDF.

Beyond participating in and commanding over dozens of harrowing operations behind enemy lines during his service as a soldier and then as commander of the elite Sayeret Matkal unit, he also was commander of the Paratroopers Brigade during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip in 2009 and led his troops deep into Hamas territory, eliminating terrorists and their strongholds while under fierce fire.

The mere fact that ministers and members of the Knesset, and even the prime minister’s own son would speak this way about a man who many Israelis owe their lives to, is hard to understand. On the other hand, maybe it isn’t. In today’s Israel, nothing is off-limits and everything is up for grabs and can be attacked.

The way politicians speak about the Supreme Court, even though they know that the court’s independence and prestige are crucial to stave off indictments in places like the ICC (International Criminal Court), is another example. Even if the court deserves criticism (which it does), how does this help Israel? But if they can attack the court and the police, then why can’t they take down the institutions whose job it is to let us sleep peacefully at night – the IDF, Shin Bet, and Mossad?

Netanyahu knows all this, especially when considering the grave threats Israel currently faces – from Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas. He knows just how important the IDF command’s integrity and independence are, and he knows that the IDF has to provide a record of its preparedness to the public because it is a people’s army.

If the IDF wants to continue to be able to draft 18-year-olds and for the soldiers to enlist and their parents to allow them, the army has to be transparent and honest with the public. If it’s not, then commanders will not be trusted and soldiers will not follow them into battle, from which some of them will not return.

Without the trust of the public, Israel does not have an army. The problem is, that while Netanyahu knows this, he is torn today between what is right for Israel and what is right for politics.

So why allow this to happen? Because of deterrence. The assault on the military’s top command is about creating a deterrence to make the army submissive to the government, just like the police which has become hyper-politicized under the rule of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. This government wants to be able to implement its policies and change Israel without resistance. Anyone who gets in the way becomes a target.

Chaya, my wife, went to the funeral on Tuesday and later she shared with me the letter that Hillel’s father had read at the funeral. It was a handwritten note his son wrote when he enlisted into the IDF. It was something of a poem that Hillel composed and kept with him at all times, right next to his military ID.

I did my best to translate it. Here it is:

“I belong.

I belong to my family, to my community, and to my nation.

I belong to my state and to my homeland.

I belong to humanity, to my conscience, and to dignity.

I belong to history and to the future.

I belong to joy, to pain, to hope, and to fear.

Anything and everything that I will experience, and that my nation will experience, and that created my identity is me, and I belong to it.

I am obligated to protect, to defend and to uphold all of the above. 

I am obligated to ensure – with all my strength - their eternal existence.

And now, for this commitment, I belong.

I belong to my weapon, to the need for victory, to the battle.

I belong!”

Ofen, a young soldier, put into words what we, as a nation, seem to have forgotten. It is hard not to read this and shed a tear – not only because of the tragic loss of such a person like Ofen, but also because of what is happening today in Israel.

Hillel Ofen knew what he belonged to. Do we?