An IDF soldier on duty in Hebron slapped an Israeli civilian. This soldier is now up for censure. He has been suspended from his duties. Jail is possibly on the table.
We are not talking about a safety threat here by terrorists. Rather, a soldier was verbally accosted by a fellow Israeli, whose ideology opposes the soldiers presence in Hebron.
It goes without saying the soldier was in the wrong to slap the civilian. As uncomfortable as it is to see a beloved IDF soldier lose it, it must be called out. Even if one is heckled and verbally provoked, as frustrating and trying as it is, the resort to violence when there is no threat is wrong and not the answer.
The onus and responsibility always remains on the stronger one in a dynamic. Given that the soldier is armed and the civilian is not, it is up to the armed soldier to restrain himself in the face of unpleasant, taunting confrontation, difficult as it might be. Depending on the context, handcuffing the provocateur might be fine, but slapping? Absolutely not. This was not a situation of life and death or a threat to security.
Yet, to me this is not the primary issue. What boggles the mind is the arrival of self-declared political activists in an area for the purpose of heckling, taunting, confronting and shaming IDF soldiers on duty. How is this allowed?
Imagine if it were US soldiers. The ones shaming the soldiers would be marginalized, not vice versa. In what country in the world can civilians who show up to provoke, be given access to soldiers on duty, serving their country? In what country are people who are looking for a fight, for a confrontation with the military, not stopped?
On the other hand, a society that responds with violence to someone expressing a different ideological point of view is a society where baseless hatred can thrive.To listen to another’s point of view is a crucial value for a healthy society. But I was not there; I was not was I the target of the barbs. Still, don’t cross that line in the sand, don’t hit.
This is not the first time an IDF soldier was not unflappable in the face of some of these radical “peace activists.” After falling in battle, Benaya Sarel, of blessed memory, is known to us for his heroism, but apparently once when he was serving on IDF duty and was spat in the face by a peace activist, he too responded physically. He was censured and had to serve time in jail.
The anomaly of Israel is that even when there is no hot war, IDF soldiers must be on active duty to prevent terrorism and secure the safety of its civilians. The war or conflict is not “out there,” somewhere far away. An American might read the story of this incident and think, well, why, if there is no war, are there soldiers there? But another might wonder, if a security situation demands soldiers on the ground, why are there civilians there?
That’s the messy reality of Israel and being Israeli. Not to mention, the soldiers on duty are basically emerging young adults. They are trained in physical conflict, not necessarily in dealing with verbal tauntings and provocations. Perhaps they need to receive training in these skills, too. Perhaps there should also be boundaries and consequences in place for anyone taunting and provoking police or IDF soldiers on duty. If activists or anyone else takes issue with the location that soldiers are patrolling — beyond the Green Line, for example — Israel’s Knesset Parliament ought to be the address for such complaints to be expressed.
To be clear, I am not blaming the victim. No hand should have been raised on any civilian. But to walk away from this incident and pretend there is no context here would be silly.
Whether from the radical right or, as is more often the case, from the radical left, just leave IDF soldiers alone! Their heroic role in securing civilians lives and safety is hard enough. Don’t drain their physical or mental energy to do battle on yet another front — with fellow citizens who it seems try to sabotage them.
In a country where the draft is mandatory, I wonder how parents of current and future IDF soldiers feel when seeing these disturbing news stories. There ought to be a buffer between soldiers and random access to IDF soldiers on duty, but herein lies the complexity of living in Israel. IDF soldiers serve in the heart of Israeli cities where civilians live, work and play. The situation is not one of a hermetically sealed military on one side and civilian side on the other.
Provocative peace activists have been coming to bother IDF soldiers for years. It’s nothing new. IDF soldiers have long had to confront and deal with them. Bottom line: As long as activists are allowed to protest in IDF soldiers’ faces about policies they disagree with, the soldiers must remain restrained and learn to cope with it. It’s crucial for IDF culture to remain unchanged, to have zero tolerance for a soldier randomly hitting any of these provocateurs, nasty as they may be.
Be it from the right or the left, politics should never factor into IDF policy and the behavior of IDF soldiers.
Copyright © 2022 by the Intermountain Jewish News
