Of all the unnecessary background noise that accompanies the war – the miserable, the conflicting, the incitement, and most of all the unnecessary – is the debate that has flared up again in recent days over the question of whether, on the eve of the massacre, military forces were transferred from the envelope sector to the Judea and Samaria sector.
IDF forces operating in Tulkarm // Arab networks
This debate is not innocent. From the outset, it deviated from the intelligence failure that allowed Hamas to surprise us, and from the eclipse that led to the relinquishment of two commando companies in the envelope sector in favor of another sector (a publication by Roy Sharon the other day).
No apologies are due
This debate focused on the sector to which it was decided to mobilize forces – the Judea and Samaria sector, and on the "fault/part" of the settlers and the settlements in Judea and Samaria in the incident. It came up online, and was also interwoven in the studios and with their commentators.
This is an unfortunate and divisive debate even in peacetime – let alone in times of war. Residents of Judea and Samaria are entitled to security like residents of the envelope, and vice versa. The settlers from Judea and Samaria have been pushed into this argument against their will, and find themselves in a defensive position that has no place.
IDF demolishes Yasser Arafat's memorial in Tulkarm // Arab networks
They, whose very presence there contributes to the security of the state and realizes true Zionism, like frontier settlers in other parts of the country, are not supposed to apologize for reinforcing forces to preserve their lives.
Even in a hypothetical case to the contrary, in which forces would have been transferred on the eve of a massacre of residents of Judea and Samaria to the envelope area or to another sector (and there were such plans in the past), there would have been no room for allegations and incitement against the residents of the envelope. If it is necessary to clarify the claims about the serious mistake (and preferably – after the war), then the address is the army, but certainly not the settlers of Judea and Samaria.
In Gaza, "settlers" from the envelope and "settlers" from Judea and Samaria and "settlers" from Israeli cities and "settlers" from the kibbutzim are fighting shoulder to shoulder.
Thousands accompanied Eitan Fish on his final journey, Photo: Avi Edri/TPS
From the point of view of Hamas and the PA, everyone/we are all in the same boat: "settlers", "occupiers", "criminals" - when our presence anywhere in the Land of Israel is illegitimate. Thousands of speakers and their publications attest to this, but here they have closed their ears from hearing.
Putting the people at the center
Esti Yaniv, the mother of Hillel Weigel who was murdered in Huwara, said at the height of her grief, with incomparable nobility: "We love the country. We love the army and we want unity."
Sarit, the mother of Ben Zussman, who fell in Gaza, referred yesterday at her son's funeral to "the Israeli spirit... who beats with our amazing soldiers," and demanded/pleaded: "If our soldiers have succeeded in putting themselves aside and the people at the center, so should our leaders."
Hillel and Weigel Yaniv, who were murdered in the shooting attack in Huwara, were buried side by side in the military cemetery on Mount Herzl, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Brig. Gen. (res.) Dadi Simhi, who lost his son Guy, a soldier in a paratrooper reconnaissance, on the day the fighting broke out, and Yehiel Leiter, father of Maj. Moshe Leiter, who was killed in battle in Gaza, urged the public this week in a joint letter to stop the political and divisive discourse of recent days, to work for victory and to put all differences aside.
We are commanded to listen to them. At least to them. They have lost what is most precious and fear that their loss will be in vain; that we will not meet the objectives of the war; May the divisions and divisions and rifts and fraternal strife return.
Since October 7, people with different opinions, beliefs and views have been buried side by side in the cemeteries. The Palestinians are fighting us, not differentiating between us, and we too must guard against this.
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