Soldiers protest Amona evacuation orders on Facebook
New Facebook page urging soldiers to disobey orders over Amona evacuation attracts 1,000 followers, prompting IDF Spokesperson's Unit to issue a response to the exhortations, warning of the harsh consequences in an effort to quash the the online rebellion: ‘all demonstration of disobedience of any kind will be strictly dealt with.’
The page calls on soldiers serving in both mandatory and reserve duty to send pictures to their units in which they appear with their friends declaring their refusal to remove the residents from the outpost.
In November, the High Court of Justice upheld a decision to evacuate Amona which is scheduled to take place by December 25.
Following a fierce political debate on the issue, the opposing factions in the coalition eventually accepted the fate of the outpost and agreed to comply with the orders.
“Battalion 9 joins the calls against the Amona evacuation,” one post reads on the page. “Good morning! We are starting the morning today with the 605th Battalion of the Combat Engineers Unit refusing to cooperate with the evacuation of Amona,” reads another.
So far, the Facebook page has attracted almost 1,000 followers and soldiers who have tagged the posts for their friends to view.
One follower wrote, “Before Amona they should have evacuated one thousand Bedouins from state land.”
Another response read: “Those who obey the order are the same soldiers who are children of minorities drafted into the Jewish army, and they are are extremely cruel. I have seen how they hit Jewish youths who want to go on the Temple Mount. This is how the cruel government of ‘Israel’ will carry out things in Amona.”
One soldier from the Givati Brigade wrote a post saying: ”Despite the fact that I am not sure we will indeed be evacuating (Amona) but rather just guarding the place, a Jew does not expel a Jew. And for as long as we can, we will protect civilians because that is why we enlisted.”
“At the end of the day, we are in the army to defend Israel and not in Hitler’s SS or SA during the 1930s. I hope we don’t see more difficult sights of violent eviction through the use of riot dispersal methods, which we don’t dare employ against our enemies,” one anonymous soldier added.
However, not all the expressions on the page were in unison with one another. One follower wrote, for example, “I am the last person that people would call left wing, but this post and these open calls to disobey an order are totally illegal. There is the rule of law in this country, and there is a government and a Knesset. The courts hold double standards, but if we don’t protect the law—we will be ruined.”
The page even managed to get the attention of the IDF itself, with its spokesperson’s unit issuing a statement in an effort to quell the online rebellion and warn of the consequences of disobeying orders.
“The IDF condemns and prohibits all demonstration of disobedience of any kind, and it will be strictly dealt with. The very nature of the IDF in a democratic state, which operates and will operate subject to the political ranks, is to carry out all orders imposed upon it in accordance with the law,” the post read.
