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Ehud Barak
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Insubordination has no place in IDF, Barak says

Defense minister condemns soldiers for refusing to follow orders to evacuate Hebron families, says 'any act of refusal does not belong in army like ours'

Defense Minister Ehud Barak strongly condemned the growing phenomenon of insubordination in the army, in a speech to soldiers on Tuesday, a day after over a dozen members of the Duchifat Battalion were sentenced to a month in jail for refusing to take part in the evacuation of Hebron families.

 

Monday morning, 10 soldiers and two commanders from the battalion announced their refusal to deploy to the city in order to replace Border Guard forces scheduled to evict two Hebron families and hundreds of right-wing settlers that had taken over two houses in the marketplace. 

 

"Our army is the only one we have, and soldiers take their orders from the company commander, the unit commander, the brigade commander and no one else, important and dignified as they may be. The army of a nation seeking to survive must be adamant about this principle," Barak said. 

 

"This phenomenon of refusing orders does not belong here... Any act of refusal – of any stripe – does not belong here with us, in an army like ours. We have no intention indulging it," he added.

 

Tuesday morning, as planned, settlers were evacuated from the houses in the Hebron marketplace by large forces of police and Border Guard troops.   

 

'Intend to minimize shirking drastically'

Barak also criticized the growing rate of draft-dodging.  "While you are here doing the work and serving above and beyond the call of duty, considering what is happening in all walks of society - there are youths who should be enlisting yet they shirk that duty using whatever means.

 

"We intend to deal with this and minimize drastically this phenomenon of avoiding the IDF," he said.

 

"Society must find the right way to express its appreciation of the reserve soldiers who shoulder this complicated burden time and again," Barak told reservists among the soldiers. He pledged that the security establishment and the Knesset intend to pass the reserve act and implement it in more than "just words."

 

Avi Schindler, a reserve officer, asked Barak to clarify once and for all what really happened at Joseph's Tomb in 2000, where it has been alleged that a wounded Israeli soldier was left behind during an attack on the site. "How can the next incident be prevented?" asked Schindler.

 

Barak didn't answer the entire crowd of reservists, but Schindler told Ynet that later Barak whispered in his ear: "it's all a myth."

 


פרסום ראשון: 08.07.07, 17:01
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