MK Daniel Hershkowitz, chairman of the Habayit Hayehudi party, sent a letter to Defense Minister Ehud Barak today in which he protests an appeal to close down the Har Bracha yeshiva because its rabbeim supposedly preached insubordination in the army.
“The closing down of a yeshiva may fan the flames of this dangerous phenomenon and have disastrous effects on the IDF and the state of Israel,” Hershkowitz wrote in his letter.
He warned that shutting down the school run by Rabbi Eliezer Melamed may be heeded as a call to arms by right-wing activists. “This may encourage them to support the position of insubordination,” he said.
Hershkowitz claims that support of insubordination had already been sounded numerous times on Army Radio.
“Even the IDF’s Army Radio has interviewed various people who support insubordination from the Left and even Hamas operatives, and no one thought to shut them down for this,” he wrote.
The minister urged Barak to deal with disobedience in the IDF through use of law enforcement and education rather than “military trials.”
“I believe those who support insubordination should be brought to justice, but not through the use of sanctions,” he said.
Recently the state has been called upon by various IDF officials to shut down Rabbi Melamed’s yeshiva.
On Sunday, GOC Central Command Avi Mizrahi said he had recommended to the IDF chief of staff that the yeshiva be shut down due to various statements that were made.
Meanwhile, a source with the hesder yeshivos said the IDF stood to lose “hundreds of dedicated combat soldiers” if it canceled its accord with the yeshivos. The source told Ynet that Rabbi Melamed was working to enlist many religious-Zionist teens who had considered evading service due to recent developments.
{Ynet/Yair Alpert-Matzav.com Israel}
I don’t get it. The absolute basis of any army is that the soldiers obey orders. Read through the accounts of any of Israel’s wars – or any other wars – and you realize that the individual soldier never knows what’s happening on the entire battlefield. The soldier has to follow orders implicitly.
This “hesder” yeshiva is preaching insubordination – not following orders – and for some strange reason the IDF wants to shut it down. Who wants soldiers who can’t be counted on to obey orders? Not only do they jeopardize their fellow soldiers, they endanger the whole country.
Enough with the “I’m a soldier only when I want to be.” Close the yeshiva and kick its members out of the Army. Who needs a bunch of egotistical teenagers who like to play to the grandstand instead of doing their duty to Am Yisrael?