Dan Meridor
Photo: Dudi Vaaknin
The Likud has abandoned Ya’alon
Op-ed: Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon’s recent protection of the IDF and its values should be lauded by his fellow ministers. Instead, he’s been left to fend off his attackers alone.
The Likud party has changed. It’s not the same old Likud anymore. It’s not the Likud that passed Basic Laws assuring human rights, it’s not the Likud that knew how to combine the nation’s security interests with the values of democracy and liberalism. People in today’s Likud speak a different language, and it’s terrible. Leaders aren’t supposed to try and jump through the public’s desired hoops, they’re supposed to tell the public what’s right. Otherwise it’s not leadership.
Defense Minister Ya’alon showed leadership. He is responsible for a military body that operates by orders and instructions, and he has power. He needs to protect and back up soldiers, but when one of them does something wrong – they need to face justice. In 1984, after the Bus 300 affair – when Shin Bet Director Avraham Shalom ordered the execution of two terrorists who were apprehended after hijacking a bus – Major General (ret.) Meir Zorea, who investigated the matter, said, “You don’t build security on lies.” And he was no self-righteous lefty, mind you.
Defense Minister Ya'alon. Setting a principled example. (Photo: Shaul Golan)
After the Shin-Bet Director was forced to retire, the entire state seemed to say, “We have a moral military, and a military that fights wars well but does so while preserving values.” That’s the message our leadership needs to send.
I’m certain Ya’alon will stick to his guns, in order to mark the limits of what is and is not permitted to soldiers, and to Israeli society at large. We need to protect soldiers who are being sent on tough missions, but that doesn’t mean everything is permitted. There are rules. The soldiers are in a difficult position and should be helped, but not by compromising our values. The entire government has to stand by the Defense Minister. Prime Minister Netanyahu should have quickly backed Ya’alon up, and certainly should not have spoken on the phone with the parents of the soldier who is suspected of killing the neutralized terrorist. That doesn’t look good.
It may be that, following this affair, Ya’alon pays a political price. I can testify to that myself, as someone who chose not to compromise my ideals and suffered the consequences. When yu’re a member of a government and you take part in decisions on such important matters, you have to do what’s right. You are the people of Israel. The Defense Minister did the right thing when he defended the IDF and made sure it wouldn’t be shown to the world as a military that allows such things to happen – unlike all of those irresponsible politicians who stated, even before the Hebron incident, that a terrorist should not be allowed to leave the scene of an attack alive.
The Hebron incident. A line was crossed. (Photo: AFP)
Ya’alon stood for the rule of law and justice, and protected the IDF and its moral image – and in return he fell victim to personal attacks against him.
The attacks on Ya’alon are troubling, but the silence of the other ministers is even more so. A leadership needs to lead, not be dragged along. We all saw the soldier shoot the terrorist who was lying on the ground, then go and shake the hand of extreme right-wing activist Baruch Marzel. These sights, along with the racist statements that are heard all of the time – the worst yet being MK Smotrich’s call to segregate Jewish and Arab women in labor – are severe, and they put an emphasis on the silence of the ministers, who have abandoned the Defense Minister alone on the battlefield.
Itamar Eicher contributed to the publication of this piece.
