One of the legends of destruction describing the siege of Jerusalem relates the following conversation:
There were thugs among them, the people of Jerusalem. The sages said to them: "We will go out and make peace with them, with the Romans." They were not let go. The thugs told them: "We will go out and make war with them." The sages told them: "This will not help, and we had better wait until the siege is lifted." The thugs stood, burned these storehouses of wheat and shiurim, and we became hungry (Bavli Gittin no A.A., translated by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz).
The zealots-thugs want to force all the inhabitants of Jerusalem to fight against the Romans. In order to do this, they burn the treasures of grain, which could, according to the story, last for a long time under siege. The result, of course, is famine, followed by a complete military failure of the rebels against the Romans – who, if they did not fall by the sword, fell into starvation. The fanatical worldview thinks that in times of severe social crisis, the situation must be exacerbated in order to resolve it. For the most part, however, reality proves that when the situation is exacerbated too much, there is no longer a possibility of decisiveness, and the entire process fails miserably.
The rational thinking of a group that wants to fight for its position and perception must include long-term planning that takes into account the consequences of each step in the just struggle. The burning of the barns during the destruction of the Temple as "my soul will die with the Philistines" is an act of desperation that leads to total fracture.
The just struggle against the government's measures in the legal field and in many other areas must take into account that its goal is to change the coalition's position through significant and ongoing public pressure. This pressure should lead the coalition to reverse its decisions or disintegrate. But this struggle must also reflect on the day after the political victory. The day when the state will return to normal functioning and citizens will continue their lives and political influence through routine democratic mechanisms.
Breaking the rules of the game by the opposition, even if it is done because the coalition breaks the rules of the game, is an act of desperation that will ultimately leave only fragments here. The struggle must be waged with determination but not despair. With dedication, but in the hope that we will succeed in repairing and not evacuating-reconstruction here.
When a soldier or officer receives a specific order that is manifestly illegal, he is required to refuse. This is his right and even his duty. So even when a government systematically abolishes the basic rights of its citizens, as in Nazi Germany, then it is the duty of every moral human being to do everything he can to destroy this country. We are not there. We are in a struggle for the basic principles of the state, and we can influence by many means only if we agree that we all want the continued existence of the State of Israel.
When pilots or other officials whose military service, even if it is voluntary, is immediately essential to Israel's security, they are forbidden, at this stage of the political struggle, to refuse, stop volunteering, train or anything else required of them in order to maintain the operational capability of the army. The refusal of such people to serve or even volunteer, which is liable to harm the security of the state at this time due to future fear, is clearly unreasonable tool breaking! Forced submission by the military and government to withdraw from a political program due to internal security pressure is illegitimate. It may lead the army to take unworthy risks, or alternatively, provoke unprecedented opposition among government supporters, which will bring us to an internal situation even more dangerous than one bad legislation or another.
"Refusal" is an extreme step stemming from despair and anger, not from farsighted rational thinking. This bad government will fall too, but not by burning barns, but by legitimate civil pressure including significant strikes and demonstrations. Anyone who thinks of shortening the road is making a grave mistake, and is liable to bring upon all of us a security and social disaster that will be very difficult to get out of.
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