UseThisummer06Rev 5/30/06 11:47 AM Page 61 JustBetweenUs The following article is a cry from the heart that we believe deserves to be heard, even though some of the author’s lan- The Day After guage might be found objectionable by some of our readers. It reflects an opinion that we know is shared by others, A Religious Zionist Youth Speaks Out although we cannot be sure by how many. The editors feel it is important to share these words as they carry considerable By Yaakov Eisen implications for the future of Religious Zionism. We hope that the article will stimulate reaction and discussion. Ed. he Israel Defense Forces and limb, to the State of Israel and its the extraordinary appropriation of man- Recruitment Office, here in defense forces. In short, I was an exem- power, however, was not military strate- TJerusalem, assigned me a mili- plar of Religious Zionism at its most gy but the decision to send infantry into tary fitness profile of ninety-seven (out motivated, patriotic best. I was truly the the most lethally infested terror nests in of ninety-seven, despite nearsightedness) “salt of the earth”—as the judge called urban settings—in lieu of temporary and a quality group ranking of fifty-six me at my arraignment hearing, follow- civilian evacuation followed by a siege (out of fifty-six). These, together with ing my brutal arrest for criticizing a or aerial bombardment. The latter my dual citizenship and bilingual fluen- high-ranking police officer physically course would have ensured victory; the cy from birth, left me a prime catch for abusing a five-year-old protester at a former guaranteed the opposite—and the special operations sections and the nonviolent anti-disengagement demon- scores of readily avoidable casualties most advanced (and dangerous) combat stration. among our soldiers. A perverse morality units to which a patriotic young Israeli Yet, much has changed here in demanded of our finest youth the could aspire to volunteer. The IDF Israel in the months following my supreme sacrifice only to protect the invited me to try out for ten of its most arraignment in July. Today, I, along with well-being of sworn terrorists and their enviable assignments, including joining countless friends and like-minded con- families. How do you console families either an elite unit of military intelli- temporaries, view military service in of soldiers (including the family of a gence or the special operations unit of particular and service to the State in friend of mine from yeshivah high the Mossad or taking a naval comman- general as something to minimize, avoid school) who know their sons gave their der’s course. I responded with gusto, or evade outright. We are not jaded; we lives to prevent not terror attacks in enthusiastically attending each of these have simply relinquished our illusions. Israeli cities but only possible collateral auditions and seriously weighing my Truthfully, my doubts began damage from aerial bombardment of opportunities to dedicate myself, life before the expulsion of the residents of the terrorist infrastructure in Arab ones? Gush Katif and Northern Samaria and More pointedly: How warped must a Mr. Eisen is currently a student at Yeshivat the destruction of their homes, towns government be to consider its best sons Merkaz HaRav Kook in Jerusalem. He also and lives. In 2002, the government more expendable than those of its most serves as the national counselor training coor- ordered the IDF to raze the terrorist implacable foes? dinator of Ariel, a nationwide youth move- infrastructure responsible for an I concede that these observations ment affiliated with the Religious Zionist edu- unprecedented spate of bombings in regarding the so-called morality of lead- cational network Merchavia. Although he lives city centers throughout Israel. The ing leftist oligarchs are not new. The with his parents and siblings in Jerusalem, the attack force of the “Chomat Magen” prevailing wisdom among Religious family joined the thousands who relocated to Gush Katif in the weeks leading up to the Operation, comprising reservists and Zionists was that secular domination of expulsion and destruction last summer, which enlisted soldiers, was comparable in size the government and army is demo- they experienced firsthand. This article was to the force that battled eight enemy graphically doomed, and we will soon translated from the Hebrew. armies in the Six-Day War. Dictating supplant leftist values—however per- Summer 5766/2006 JEWISH ACTION 61 UseThisummer06Rev 5/30/06 11:47 AM Page 62 verted or nonexistent—with our own and psychological warfare—directed What conspiratorial webs they would Jewish ones. The expulsions and against their peaceful, hapless, civilian have spun! What would the Supreme destructions of recent months belie such victims. Wherever efficiency was threat- Court justices, with their famous judi- idyllic delusions. Not one putatively ened, they were unapologetically brutal cial activism—not to mention the observant, senior military officer arose automatons. At best, even occasional United Nations—have done? Would the with the courage to forfeit his career for words of apparent sympathy were trans- army, let alone the police, have lifted a the sake of his conscience. All five of the parently rehearsed, thoughtless and finger against irate left-wing protesters? officers in active service in the entire insensitive. None of the soldiers seemed The media, the courts, the army and army who bothered to protest were low bothered about lounging comfortably in the police all collaborated with a dema- ranking, had already elected not to pur- the garden of a family they had just gogic oligarchy to enable the destruc- sue military careers and were on the driven from their home and herded tion to take place. brink of demobilization. Nearly all the onto the army buses. After all, who I should invite anyone who refuses rest—even reservist officers—retracted would object to taking some chairs out to believe the extent of institutional cor- their conscientious objections at the first of a newly emptied home to relax on its ruption in the entire system to endure threat of prosecution. Admittedly, on patio as the former residents gazed from what I endured. I was beaten and bru- the one hand, kippot abound nowadays afar? When you shoot someone, you talized by riot police, while standing on at the IDF Officer Training School in don’t pay for the torn shirt. the sidewalk, for shouting at their com- Mitzpe Rimon. On the other hand, Is there any wonder that the con- mander to stop punching a five-year-old their wearers’ conduct has corroborated nection established between these “war- (!) attempting to join other nonviolent the prescient observation of certain rab- riors” and me has sundered in advance protesters who had blocked traffic. The bis: “More than the religious conquered any bond that might have developed commander charged at me, hurled me officer training, officer training con- between us? Could I ever see myself to the ground and then had five of his quered the religious.” standing shoulder to shoulder with underlings pin my arms and legs and Who are these “patriots” who exe- them in the future as comrades in arms? pummel me mercilessly. Only after they cuted the expulsion and destruction of Moreover, how can I possibly conceive had all finished venting their rage did Gush Katif with such legendary efficien- of myself joining forces with such peo- they decide to arrest me and haul me cy? Predictably, the leftist-dominated off, handcuffed. By then, I was bruised media here (and elsewhere) highlighted I was beaten and brutalized and bloody, black and blue and covered the so-called surrealistic moments of with scratches, with open wounds on embrace and tears. We who were by riot police for shouting my hands and ear. My crimes? expelled experienced a different reality. at their commander to stop Manifold: “Endangering human lives on Most of the soldiers displayed no emo- punching a five-year-old (!) a vehicular route” and “blocking a traf- tions at all. The more advanced came attempting to join other fic artery”—even though for the entire equipped with mantras like “This is a duration I was standing on the side- democratic state” and “The law is the nonviolent protesters who walk—and “assaulting a police officer,” law.” Holocaust survivors we know had blocked traffic. despite having attacked no one, even in heard, literally, for at least the second self-defense, as the police continued to time, their captors declare that they ple in executing the orders of the state batter me. At the same demonstration, a “were just following orders.” The most that sent them to perpetrate this crime band of leftist brutes brandishing screw- thoughtful of our expellers conceded, against my brethren? drivers threatened peaceful antigovern- “Listen, it’s my livelihood.” The excep- Note this well: The army, for all ment protesters armed only with their tionally compassionate allowed, “It’s its depravity, was only one cog of a vast voices, yet the police did not even repri- your job to protest; it’s our job to expel machine. The institutional immorality mand any of the former, let alone arrest you.” There were even officers who told that enabled the destruction of Gush them. Upon reaching the infamous the families they were expelling from Katif and the utter ruin of its people’s Russian Compound prison, I was given their homes that they had volunteered lives is not indicative of some blighted only half a mattress on which to sleep for this “nationalistic mission.” component of the system. It is endemic because the police had hauled off so Realistically, what else might we expect to the system as a whole and permeates many demonstrators that the prison ran from an education so utterly devoid of every arm of the state.