In the turbulence sweeping Israeli society, statements by Knesset members against the OC Central Command are also pushing the IDF to the center of the vortex. This trend creates complete symmetry between those who question the IDF's statehood on both the right and the left. There is no difference between the doubt cast by some of the protest leaders on the professional motives that led the General Staff to lead the latest operation in the Jenin refugee camp – claiming that the alleged operation was motivated, at least in part, by the prime minister's political interest – and those who question the IDF's substantive considerations in its policy toward settler activity in Judea and Samaria.
Even if there is disagreement and there is room for substantive criticism, IDF commanders deserve credibility regarding the motives of their conduct as devoid of political bias. Undermining trust in the IDF's command considerations endangers the existence of the IDF as a state body that must continue to be so, and everyone on all sides of the dispute must preserve it as such on all guards.
MK Limor Sun Har Melech in the attack on Galant and Maj. Gen. Fuchs courtesy of Radio Kol Barama \ Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
In the first years of the state, Ben-Gurion described the danger of division among the Jewish people as a threat based on the ability to establish a state. For example, in a speech to the leadership of American Jews in May 1951, he described: "We brought with us from the Diaspora habits of disintegration. Anarchy, state irresponsibility, lack of national unity, lack of distinction between the trivial and the essential, between temporary and permanent."
At this time, when IDF commanders are struggling to keep the camp out of the political upheaval, any fault that paints the IDF leadership in the colors of the political divide endangers the basis of the IDF's existence as a unifying factor that must continue to exist above and beyond all disputes. Who doesn't understand that without the unity of the IDF, the State of Israel does not have the protective force necessary for its very existence. This warning applies to everyone, to anyone who fears for the future of the State of Israel.
Signs hung as part of a campaign by settlers against Gen. Fox,
The State of Israel in times of emergency, division and controversy have reached a climax that threatens the vision of the establishment of the state and the ingathering of the exiles. The unification of the people is currently the order of the day, the primary duty of the national leadership. Israeli society is currently similar to the situation of a patient with a system collapse – in this situation, any criticism of the IDF leadership from the right or the left makes the situation worse. Anyone who cares requires state responsibility.
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