The IDF is Israel’s defense force. But last week, with a heavy heart, I wrote for the New York Times about how “the army, which historically enjoyed support across the Jewish Israeli spectrum, has become politicized.” Recent debates, I argued, turned the “most revered institution” into a “political football.” It is a problematic trend, even dangerous, and today I unhappily report that my article has changed nothing – articles rarely do. The trend continues, even accelerating, as the Prime Minister summoned his Defense Minister for “clarification” over a speech by the Minister, Moshe Yaalon, in which he defended the leadership of the military.
Yaalon urged the leaders of the IDF to “keep speaking their mind.” Prime Minister Netanyahu responded to Yaalon’s call with a chilliness usually reserved for political rivals, not for fellow Likud Ministers who serve under him and who pose no political threat to him. “The IDF's commanders freely speak their minds—in relevant forums and on topics under their purview,” a statement from the PM’s office said. “The IDF is the army of the people and should be kept out of political disputes." Netanyahu then asked Yaalon to see him in his office today.
My New York Times article explained with some detail the background to recent public debate over positions taken by the leadership of the IDF. There were statements concerning trigger-happy Israelis who kill Palestinian attackers even when the killing is not essential. There was the incident over the soldier in Hebron, who shot an attacker that was already wounded and seemed to pose no threat to the IDF force. Then, on Holocaust Memorial Day, there was the annoying speech by the Deputy Chief of Staff of the IDF, General Yair Golan, in which the General pointed to similarities between 2016 Israel and 1930s Germany. As I wrote last week, this speech “was not well received. For one thing, Holocaust Remembrance Day is not the time for controversial political statements. Moreover, what he said is nonsense. Israel is guilty of many sins, but ‘abhorrent processes that took place in Europe,’ as he put it, are not happening here. The general was repudiated by politicians, mocked on social media and called upon by pundits to resign.”
http://www.jewishjournal.com/rosnersdomain/item/the_idf_vs._the_people_of_israel_cont
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