The refusal to serve in the IDF could soon precipitate into a critical mass
An army cannot march on the stomachs of worn out, despondent and angry soldiers
By Neta Ahituv • Translated by Sol Salbe
Only suckers follow orders
Among the many burning issues we are facing these days, there is also one that is less talked about, its discussed in hushed tones but it is serious: the crisis of the IDF. The Israeli Defence Force as we have known it has changed. This change encompasses several layers, each of which has far-reaching implications not only for Israel’s security, but also for the Israeli social fabric. The most prominent layer is the crisis of lack of trust between the government and the IDF. The disagreements between the two bodies over the continuation of the fighting, the objectives of the fighting, the role of the defence minister, and the manner in which combat should be carried out are evident and threatening. How is it possible to prosecute such a complex, difficult war when the army does not trust the government? The day will not be far when the tensions will develop into a crisis, which will take on the harsh form of an inability to cooperate — a constitutional crisis in which authorities are fighting each other, only here we are talking about the army, and the danger from such a crisis is immediate.
The next stratum of crisis is the growing bitterness among IDF soldiers, including the regular army soldiers who notice repeatedly their release date getting further and further away. Not to mention seeing more and more friends who have fallen in combat, have been injured, whose souls are tormented, all awhile the government is conjuring tricks upon tricks that will exempt an entire segment of society from the obligation to enlist. Today marks the 800th IDF casualty since the beginning of the war. The heart breaks knowing it, you just can’t do it anymore. And of course, there is the growing frustration among the reservists, who are dying, injured, not working, not studying, not seeing their families for months, all along while knowing that as far as the government is concerned, they simply don’t count. Their small businesses have long since closed without rescue package from the state, and the students among them will probably never finish their degree. For the government the main priority is that the ultra-orthodox children’s daycare centres and yeshivot receive generous grants.
The issues are piling on behind the dam walls and eventually the walls would burst. Already, there is a grey refusal among the reservists who are not willing to take on “another round” in Gaza, because no matter what the abductees will not be found alive there and they have no interest in preparing the infrastructure for new settlements. The refusal to serve is still quite circumspect, but it could soon precipitate into a critical mass, both in terms of protest and security. An army cannot march on the stomachs of soldiers who are worn out, frustrated, trampled, despondent and angry.
The third, broadest, and most hidden layer can be given the rubric of “F**K the hierarchy.” Yaniv Kubovich described it this way on Haaretz’s “This Week” podcast: “There is a growing disconnect between the most senior echelon, such as the General Staff Forum, which issues directives, and what the soldiers do on the ground.” He tells how brigade commanders, division commanders, and battalion commanders do what they feel like doing. They operate independently on the ground, the way it fits their respective ideological take on things. If the commanding officer subscribes to the view that Jews should live in Gaza, he will act accordingly, even if that contradicts the guidelines. The disregard for orders is also related to the fact that for years the military has been used by settlers in the West Bank to implement their expulsion of Palestinians and annexation plans. Why would a settler who is used to such behaviour in Huwara behave any differently in Jabaliya? It’s all the same to him. What’s more, all of this is being encouraged from above, on the part of the settler leadership, as Nir Hasson recounts in a report about the annual memorial service for Rabbi Meir Kahane, which took place Tuesday night — Former Knesset Member Moshe Feiglin detailed his plan for the voluntary emigration of Palestinians, and then [Ben-Gvir adviser] Bentzi Gopstein reprimanded him that it should not be done voluntarily, but by force. That’s how cut and dried things are in the open.
Another lesser-spoken contribution to the general atmosphere of chaos in the IDF is the chaos that prevailed in Israel on that cursed day of October 7, a day in which former soldiers, current soldiers, reservists and parents of children were forced to grab a rifle, get into a car and rush like a lone members of a mounted cavalry to the south in order to save people. There was no orderly organised IDF response that was prepared in advance for such an occasion. And if this is what our response to the cruellest, most difficult attack we have ever experienced in the country looks like, it is natural that this is how the continuation of the fighting will be conducted — just like the Wild West.
And neither can Netanyahu be absolved of responsibility for the crisis in the army: When a country has been subjected to such deep corruption for so many years and the accepted conduct is that everyone is entitled to do whatever they want, then it is clear that obeying orders according to a hierarchy of command is intended only for suckers. We live in a country where those who obey are suckers, even in the IDF.
