by Emmanuel Shiloh, editor of the Besheva weekly, translated by Hillel Fendel.
We can no longer avoid the question: How many soldiers is it morally justified to sacrifice for the sake of the hostages?
Just a week ago, five IDF soldiers from the hareidi Netzach Yehuda battalion were killed in a tragic, well-planned terrorist ambush in the Beit Hanoun sector of the Gaza Strip.
Terrorists had mined the area with explosive devices, and then fired not only on the soldiers who entered, but also on a rescue unit that arrived on the scene shortly afterwards. The terrorists reportedly planned to try to kidnap one or more soldiers, as they also tried to do in the case of the bulldozer operator whom they murdered two days later. In neither case did they succeed.
These grave incidents remind us of that Netzach Yehuda exists - a hareidi combat battalion that has been engaged in holy security activity for years, mainly in Judea and Samaria but in this war also in Gaza. It has sometimes also paid a heavy price in wounded and killed. E-l malei rachamim: "G-d, full of mercy, grant a proper rest on the wings of the Shekhinah to those who have fallen for the sanctification of Your name, in the ranks of the pure and heroic holy ones." Such calamities must not bring down our spirits, but they should cause us to examine ourselves and our deeds, and correct our mistakes.
2.
In recent weeks, a Hasmonean Brigade reserve company has taken up a position on the northern perimeter of the Gaza Strip. Its soldiers are hareidi men with families, who enlisted at a later age and then underwent special training for upgrade to combat roles in the new hareidi brigade.
The personal example that these soldiers set for their brothers in the sector is much more significant than all the attempts to force them to enlist in the army. The hareidi sector is not a uniform bloc; while some believe it is a terrible sin to enlist, many others are attentive to the moral Torah charge to come to the physical aid of their countrymen and take part in this "mitzvah war" that has been forced upon Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael.
It will not be easy to change the hard-core that has long held, as far back as 1948, that even during wartime, Torah students should not leave their studies. But even the late Rosh Yeshiva of Ponevezh, Rav Shach, spiritual guide of perhaps the largest hareidi yeshiva sector, said that young hareidim who are not learning, for whatever reason, should enlist in the army. He even said that those who do not do so are considered to be literally "endangering" the bona-fide Torah students – a status with clear Halakhic ramifications. There are thus many thousands of such potential soldiers every year, and they must be the focus of efforts to bring about hareidi enlistment.
Of course, many in the hareidi public justify even the non-studious who avoid conscription, because of the fear that military service will weaken their religious observance and will prejudice their hareidi lifestyle and identity. The more soldiers who enter the army as hareidim and also leave it as hareidim, the more the resistance will dissolve.
On the other hand, forced conscription with sanctions and threats of jail will come at a heavy social cost, causing the hareidi public to close ranks in a fierce struggle against the State. It is almost certain that even if a few thousand conscripts are forced to enlist each year, their motivation and combat quality will not be high. Instead of persecuting those who do not enlist, we would be much better advised to empower and honor those hareidim who answer the call of the hour and enlist.
3.
Not many people suspect that the move to dispatch tens of thousands of draft notices to young hareidim stems from good intentions to strengthen the IDF's combat capabilities or even simply to lighten the load of those currently serving. Rather, the IDF is bowing to the pressures exerted by our Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara (her pre-firing hearing is being held as these words are being written); she would contribute much more to national security if she would stop trying to impede, with a variety of poor excuses, the important and even urgent appointment of Gen. David Zini as head of the Shabak.
Another way in which Ms. Bahara-Miara could help would be by removing her "legal" demand to provide "humanitarian" aid to the Hamas terrorists in Gaza. If the Hamas terrorists who find the strength to stand and fight against our soldiers are hungry, unpaid, and unmotivated, this will help our national security a lot more than by forcing some yeshiva boys to fight alongside them.
On the one hand, the hareidi parties are threatening to topple the government if a broad conscription bill is passed – and on the other hand, there are elements seeking to pass precisely that type of bill for precisely that reason: to topple the government. Most of the soldiers fighting in Gaza today and who have sacrificed so much until now would like help in carrying the stretcher – but even more than that, they want the stretcher to reach its destination - namely, full victory. This will not happen if the government falls.
4.
It is hard not to rise up against the fact that a hornets' nest like Beit Hanoun on the northeastern border of Gaza, which threatens the neighboring kibbutzim as well as the city of Sderot, has not yet been razed to the ground – including the tunnels below it, which are still being used to ambush our soldiers. It is still teeming with terrorists, even though the IDF has been sent to battle them four or five times during the course of this war.
This is the sad result of two grave mistakes. One is the system of quick forays that the previous Chief of Staff enacted, during which our forces would enter the area, hit the terrorists hard, and then leave – enabling Hamas to return, rearm, and booby-trap the area for the next entry of the IDF. This has cost us many soldiers' lives.
The second mistake is one that is close to being made again today: partial hostage deals in which some hostages are freed but many remain in Gazan captivity while the IDF withdraws from areas it captured at great cost. The price is so high that it is doubtful whether even the sacred mission of saving the hostages can justify it.
The truth must be told: We could have long ago won this war and destroyed Hamas if not for the extraordinary caution we take not to endanger the hostages. It is this that renders large areas of Gaza basically immune to Israeli attack, enabling the terrorists there to fortify themselves with practically no Israeli resistance. The IDF also does not avail itself of its massive airpower for the same reason, and instead sends infantry, engineering corps, and armored forces to carry out dangerous and costly missions.
The question must be asked: How many soldiers may be sacrificed in order to save 20 live hostages? Is 40 a justified amount, two for each one? Or maybe 60, three for each one? Or perhaps 100? Why do we seem willing to sacrifice our soldiers for the hostages' sake? Is it because we know the hostages by name, thus rendering their blood redder than soldiers whom we do not (yet) know? The bottom line is that this is a moral injustice vis-à-vis our dedicated soldiers.
This of course must be added to the even greater moral injustice of supplying the enemy with food and more so that they can continue to wage war against us.
Sadly, Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir, who was appointed IDF Chief of Staff precisely for the purpose of winning the war, has fallen victim to the powerful "Bring Them Home at any Cost" campaign. He now objects to conquering the Strip, and instead seeks a cave-in hostage deal. The government must obligate him to follow its orders and not show weakness.
5.
Netanyahu's quest to make another deal of the same type in Washington this week is most regrettable. When the current Gideon's Chariots offensive began a number of weeks ago, we were told that its objective was to defeat Hamas – but we quickly realized that its purpose was simply to pressure Hamas into agreeing to release a few more hostages. Hamas knew the whole time that if the military pressure became a bit unbearable for them, they could easily stop the IDF at any time, and even cause it to withdraw, by simply agreeing to release another few hostages. This is not the way to win, nor even to create a measure of deterrence.
When we set out on this latest offensive, Defense Minister Yisrael Katz vowed that Israel would not withdraw from the areas it would conquer. But it is now clear that in the current talks, Israel insists on remaining only in the Rafah area and a bit north, while agreeing to withdraw from the other areas we conquered at great cost. Did we not learn from our recent withdrawal from the Netzarim Route, through which hundreds of thousands of Gazans quickly returned northward, without even any effective security checks? Wherever we withdraw, the terrorists stream in and place explosives, to be used against our troops at a later date.
The equation that places the safety of the hostages above any other strategic consideration is causing us to lose the war, and thereby even distances the very release of the hostages.
May G-d open our eyes and those of our leaders, and may He save us from the calamitous mistakes that we bring upon ourselves. May He lead us to a victorious conclusion to the war in Gaza, as He did in Lebanon and Iran, Amen.
The author can be reached at eshilo777@gmail.com.