If there's one person I don't envy at this time, it's Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi.
I don't know how I would have reacted instead to the waves of refusal, and here I allow myself to wear my civilian hat and my expectation of the head of the military establishment. It's an expectation that has been a big disappointment over the past six months. After months of stuttering, the chief of staff released a video to the public last week. And how shall we say? It would have been better if he hadn't taken out. A stuttering, hesitant video, conveying weakness instead of strength, almost begging for the return of the refuseniks. While Nasrallah is chuckling at us, the chief of staff stands in front of a camera and conveys weakness.
I don't envy the chief of staff, and still. For six months the Israeli public has been engaged in a legitimate democratic debate. Yes, legitimate. Despite all that the protesters are familiar to themselves, reducing the grounds for reasonableness does not turn Israel into North Korea. And in the midst of this difficult democratic debate, a group arose that knows it is holding the State of Israel by the throat, and decided to turn its back on the state and the public – and refuse. Sorry, in the new jargon it's not "refusal," but "non-turn-up."
They are trying to bend democracy by force, to break me and my friends – who want reform and voted for reform in the most democratic way possible – through political protection, unraveling every possible thread in fragile Israeli society. It was here that we waited for leadership.
Where is she? Where was the chief of staff for six months? Where is the commander of the air force? Don't they understand the depth of the crisis of trust that has torn the Air Force from Israeli society?
We have already forgotten a bit of the storm from a pirate video by a civilian, in which an infantry fighter is seen asking for air support and over the radio the pilots ask him whether he is in favor of the reform or against it, until finally he is attacked by the enemy. The video, blunt it must be said, wanted to protest the phenomenon of insubordination and brought to the surface frustration that had been stored for months. The video was widely condemned, and for the first time we also discovered that the IDF Spokesperson knows how to speak. For six months, he remained silent about the internal rift that involved the army, and suddenly came out with all his might against a civilian.
Say, why is there no public condemnation of subversive elements, the organizers of petitions, the instigators of the rebellion? They know who they are, they are not anonymous citizens.
Where are the captains versus the perpetrators of the rejectionism that is disintegrating the people? Why do they know how to vehemently condemn only citizens who release a video, however blatant?
I don't envy the chief of staff and the commander of the air force, but you should know that this rift is happening partly because of your lack of response. When you don't respond or stutter, the public understands and understands. Last week it was reported that "pilots complain of humiliation and teasing from people on the street." Outside the cockpit, frustration is vibrant and it erupts, blatant and toxic.
This frustration is the result of six months of a virulent campaign on the head of Israeli society, which has remained without a systemic response. When the commander of the air force admonishes the public that "in recent days voices have been heard against us, those in uniform," but does not respond to outrageous calls such as that of Maj. Gen. (res.) Nimrod Sheffer, for example, who announced, "If I had been called to bomb Syria tonight, I would have announced the cessation of volunteering," then something is crooked.
The voice that needs to come out of the General Staff must be clear, and sometimes even the big ones above should learn from the small ones. Lt. Col. Tziki Yaul, a battalion commander in the reserves, said goodbye to his battalion this week: "Today, more than ever, we are resolute in our call: We will continue to defend you, beloved homeland. We dreamed of you and we will fight for you, unconditionally and with our heads held high. Not only because we have no choice, but because it is a right that our grandparents and their parents only dreamed of, and for which they gave their lives... We will train, if necessary, we will fight, enemies and not brothers, and we will win. Even when we shuffle a little, we will win, not only because of the strength but because of the strength and because of the wind blowing at your back, fighters, commanders and families."
I don't know you Tziki, but thank you.
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