Last week I happened to stumble upon a funeral attended by the head of the Central Command, Yehuda Fuchs. He arrived in a B uniform, from the field, and after a few minutes apologized and returned to the field. I wondered where he was in a hurry, after all, the fighting was in Gaza at the time, and he replied with a smile: "With me, there is not a second of quiet. Even when Gaza ends, everything in Judea and Samaria will continue as usual."
This reality is the bread and butter of everyone who serves in Judea and Samaria. There is no day, no night, no weekend. The list of wanted persons does not end, the list of arrests lengthens accordingly, and every operation is a constant danger to the victims, while avoiding it is a constant danger of attacks. Since the beginning of the current year, hundreds of terrorist attacks in Judea and Samaria have been thwarted and hundreds of wanted persons have been arrested, in an intelligence-operational collaboration between the Shin Bet and the IDF (and sometimes also the Israel Police), which saved dozens of Israelis from death.
Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fuchs at the scene of the attack in Huwara, photo: IDF Spokesperson
None of these performers were an afternoon walk in the park. Judea and Samaria over the past year has been armed and violent, and every IDF activity is accompanied by fire and courage that sometimes go beyond any imagination or scenario. The fighters who enter there at night do so so that civilians will not be killed on the home front during the day. It's that simple.
The person in charge of all this operation is the OC Central Command. He is responsible for its painful aspects when attacks were not thwarted and people were killed, and he is responsible for its more successful parts when, thanks to strenuous activity, terrorists were eliminated or arrested and attacks were prevented. All of this happens in Sisyphean, endless work, which stands on an enormous mountain of responsibility from which there is no escape. Responsibility for the lives of civilians, responsibility for the lives of soldiers, and responsibility to remain human – vis-à-vis Palestinian civilians and their property, vis-à-vis professional ethics, and in front of appearance.
Fox quickly stepped up. Maj. Ofek Aharon and Maj. Itamar Elharar z"l, photo: courtesy of the families
Yehuda Fuchs is an excellent officer, with an impeccable combat and command record, but more than that – he is a human being. And to use American jargon: he is an officer and a gentleman. On the professional side he knows the job excellently; On the personal-human side, he does it in a way that harnesses people to him and avoids unnecessary wars, at home and against the enemy. Moreover, Fuchs has extraordinary public-command courage, in an era when the top echelons of the army often disappear when it comes to meeting a problematic event that involves taking responsibility. Last year, when two Baghouz company commanders, Maj. Itamar Elharar and Maj. Ofek Aharon, were killed by fire from another officer in the unit, he quickly appeared at 8 p.m. in front of the TV news anchors, took responsibility and promised to turn over every stone to ensure that such incidents would not happen again in the future.
In Central Command, Fuchs is indeed the official sovereign on the ground, but in practice he fulfills government orders and the orders of the chief of staff. Whoever attacks him for evacuating six new (illegal) outposts last week ignores the fact that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formally promised the administration in Washington not to build new settlements in Judea and Samaria until further notice. It also ignores the fact that the government is (still) acting according to the law, and is supposed to take action against what is done illegally.
Officially pledged to the administration in Washington not to build new settlements in Judea and Samaria. Netanyahu, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
The ungrateful people behind the campaign, which was done without credit, obviously have not a drop of shame. It is likely that they come from among the settlements in Judea and Samaria, the settlement that is the first to enjoy the protection of the army and its commanders, headed by Fuchs. Through this campaign (who paid? who approved? who hanged?) they seek to intimidate him; Make him their judge. Make his hands shake the next time he is asked to order the evacuation of an outpost. This is what happened to the IDF when it hesitated in evacuating the illegal outpost of Eviatar during Operation Guardian of the Walls, and when it did, it encountered difficulties that swelled into a complex political-legal mess that continues to this day.
The lesson from Aviatar is that evacuations must be carried out immediately. This is the instruction that the political echelon gave Fuchs, and this is the instruction that he is carrying out. Whoever asks him to roll his eyes is actually calling on him to disobey an order, but also asking him to do something much worse: to be subject to the authority of the settlers, and not to the authority of the government or the chief of staff. This is a struggle for control, which has many other implications – one of which recently made headlines is the attempt to deter the defense minister, the Shin Bet and the IDF from issuing administrative orders to Jews suspected of involvement in terrorist activity.
Defense Minister Yoav Galant and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy did well to condemn the campaign. Galant and Halevy, Photo: Ariel Hermony/Ministry of Defense
The campaign itself is, of course, legitimate. It is permissible to attack the evacuation of the settlements, and it is permissible to oppose the administrative detention of Jews. But the target of such a campaign should be the government, not the army. In front of politicians, not officers. Anyone who takes a picture of a champion in uniform A (and not in uniform B, where he lives and breathes 24/7), when he smiles (and not in the constant state of accumulation that comes with this role of worries and wrinkles), is an evil cynic without limits, and above all devoid of responsibility and stateliness.
Defense Minister Yoav Galant and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy did well to condemn the campaign, but it is not enough. It is expected to hear Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu say clear things on the subject, as well as the two recipients of the campaign – Ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir. As those who live in Judea and Samaria in security, thanks to the army and its commanders, they should be the first to thank Fuchs and condemn those who attack him. If they fail to do so, it will become clear once again that behind the façade of responsible public leaders are cynical and unrestrained politicians.
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