May 17, 2018,
I’m writing
this for my good friends, my moral humane friends, and for all those who are
concerned and angry over the Palestinians killed and injured on the border with
Gaza.
In the biblical
Exodus from Egypt, when the Egyptian army drowned in the Red Sea just before
overtaking the Israelites, our sages say that God prevented the angels from
singing and rejoicing, scolding them with the words “my creations are drowning
in the sea and you are singing?!”
I write these
words with great caution, and from a sense of mission. I can understand and
identify with all of those good and moral Zionists who fear that the many
Palestinian victims may be our fault, the result of mistakes made by our side.
I’m writing because I am one of the few who was there, in uniform, in the
reserves, but I was there. Yes, right there on the fence where the
demonstrations are happening. It was last Friday, but I saw it with my own
eyes; I was on our side of the fence but I could see and hear and understand
everything. I want to testify from my firsthand knowledge, not a theoretical
point of view. Because I was there.
I want to
testify that what I saw and heard was a tremendous, supreme effort from our
side to prevent, in every possible way, Palestinian deaths and injuries.
Of course,
the primary mission was to prevent hundreds of thousands of Gazans from
infiltrating into our territory. That kind of invasion would be perilous,
mortally dangerous, to the nearby communities; would permit terrorists
disguised as civilians to enter our kibbutz and moshav communities, and would
leave us with no choice but to target every single infiltrator. That’s why our
soldiers were directed to prevent infiltration, in a variety of ways, using
live ammunition only as a last resort.
The IDF
employs many creative means of reducing friction with Gazans and uses numerous
methods, most of which are not made public, to prevent them from reaching the
fence. In addition, over the past few weeks there have been serious efforts to
save the lives of children and civilians who have been pushed to the front
lines by the Hamas, who are trying to hide behind them in order to infiltrate
and attack Israel.
When there is
no alternative, and live ammunition must be used to stop those who storm the
fence, the soldiers make heroic and sometimes dangerous efforts not to kill and
to only injure those on the other side. The IDF stations senior commanders at
every confrontation point to ensure that every shot is approved and backed up
by a responsible figure with proper authority. Every staging area has an
especially large number of troops in order to make sure that soldiers are not
put into life-threatening situations where they will have no choice but to fire
indiscriminately.
A situation
where thousands of people rush you is frightening, even terrifying. It is
extremely difficult to show restraint, and it requires calm, mature
professionalism. Sixty-two dead is an enormous number. But I can testify
from my first-hand experience, that every bullet and every hit is carefully
reported, documented and investigated, in Excel spreadsheets. Literally. I was
there and I saw it with my own eyes.
This isn’t
the time or place to discuss the situation in general and the desperate plight
of the residents of Gaza. I’m not interested in starting a political discussion
here, although I do have a clear position. What I’m trying to do is present,
for everyone who really wants to listen, the extent of the IDF’s enormous
effort to protect Israel’s borders while minimizing injuries and loss of life
on the other side.
And despite
all this – the situation on the border with Gaza is deteriorating. I hope that
we won’t be called up again soon for reserve duty to protect our country. But
if we are, we will go with the knowledge that we are serving a morally just
cause. We do not rejoice when we must go to war, but we also don’t go like
sheep to the slaughter.
Not anymore.
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