Over the last month, soldiers from several combat units held
demonstrations against the destruction of Jewish homes in the West Bank.
Several soldiers were court-martialed on charges of holding signs that vowed
not to participate in such missions.
"This will spread if we don't kill it in time," Israeli parliamentarian
Ophir Paz-Pines said.
The military has determined that most of the opposition to destroy
Jewish outposts and homes stem from Orthodox Jews. Officials said these
soldiers were performing their three-year tour of duty that combined
military service with studies at Jewish seminaries, many of them in the West
Bank.
In testimony to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on
Nov. 25, Zamir said he had demanded that the principals of the seminaries
pledge to discourage protests against military operations. He said
youngsters ready to disobey their future commanders should not be allowed to
enter the 62 seminaries that participate in the military program.
"I demanded action not just words of condemnation," Zamir said.
In May, the military conducted a study that determined that up to
one-third of soldiers could disobey orders to destroy Jewish communities
deemed illegal. Officials said the military has overseen the formation of
police units, comprised largely of non-Jews, that would be assigned such
missions.
Officials said Orthodox Jews, particularly seminary students, were
comprising a greater ratio of combat soldiers. They said 1,300 seminary
students were joining the military every year, most of them in combat units.
Many of these soldiers, officials said, have been swayed by teachings of
their rabbis, who warned that Judaism bans the expulsion of Jews in the
biblical land of Israel. They said military commanders have warned the
seminaries not to discuss such issues in class.
In many cases, the soldiers who refuse orders to participate in the
demolition of Jewish homes have been supported by their families. In 2005,
Orthodox soldiers were forced to join the military expulsion of some 16,000
Jews from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank.
"We cannot have a situation in which a yeshiva [seminary] leader cannot
speak his mind," Rabbi David Stav, a spokesman for the seminaries, said.
Officials said the military envisioned a scenario in which Orthodox Jews
influence other soldiers to disobey orders to demolish Jewish homes and
communities in the West Bank. They said the military was bracing for an
increase in such operations in wake of the government's decision for a
settlement freeze. The military has already requested additional manpower to
enforce the freeze.
"The state must use an iron fist to quell insubordination from both the
right- and the left-wing," Defense Minister Ehud Barak said.
