WAR: Israel in Crisis: Rabbis call for Israeli Army Mutiny if Settlement Plan Passed.

Last Week, Avraham Shapira, a former chief rabbi of Israel called for members of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) to refuse to carry out any orders to move settlers. Analysts fear that even a small mutiny could paralyze the IDF. Sixty other Rabbi�s have taken up the call as well.




Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, the army chief of staff, condemned the call in a statement broadcast on Israeli media. While Sharon�s pullout plan has popular support, the ultra conservative political elements are vehemently opposed to it. Leader of the main Israeli opposition party Shimon Peres, stated that this level of rhetoric and attacks against Sharon is reminiscent of the lead up to the assassination of then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Protest have broken out over the planned pullout accusing Sharon of �tearing the country apart� The effected settlers are demanding a national referendum on the issue.


[edit on 10/19/04 by FredT]

This is an outrage. It is this kind of unreasonable action that brings the whole world against Israel. And as with all nations and groups, it is the radical extremists that put a bad face on everything.

To those extremists: Israel is a democracy...undermine that fact and you toss away the only thing that gives your country legitimacy. Create a tradition of insubordination in your military, and you erode the one body that tries its best to keep the terror out. Because as much as these extreme rabbis scream about the settlers, and pretend that they can assume leadership of the military on their whim, when it comes time to preventing terror attacks, Israel better hope it has an army that listens to experienced officers, and not extremists with their own political agenda.

And as for the whole issue...this member is pretty neoconservative., and about as pro-Israel as they come...but just how much more do you expect the Palestinians to lose. You have your state, you have your nuclear weapons, you have the worlds mightiest nation backing you up on everything...they have no one. Period. Israel was established in a manner that was contraversial to most people. Stealing more palestinian land through illegal settlements is completely abhorrent. These people have always been caught in the middle, with American weapons on one side, and arab armies on the other.

Israel, any legitimacy you have comes from your being a democracy, and for being the good guys. Start acting like it.

Originally posted by Archangel76
You have your state, you have your nuclear weapons, you have the worlds mightiest nation backing you up on everything...they have no one. Period.

Isn't it strange that though in a region full of Muslims, the Palestinians find themselves alone? Is it not equally as strange that none of their "brothers and sisters" have offered them refuge? The Islamic fundamentalists WANT the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.

As for the establishment of Israel being questionable... let's not forget that the entire region was actually conquered by Arabs not that long ago, historically speaking. Muslims, Christians and Jews have been fighting over that region for well over 1000 years. The establishment of almost every nation in that entire area could be considered questionable on those basis.

I'm not saying that I support everything that Israel does, however we all might feel differently if we had grown up in Israel, surrounded by people who wanted to see our family and friends destroyed. My grandfather fought in WWII, in the Pacific theater. Since the war, he's been extremely racist against ALL asians. When I've tried to talk to him about the roots of his racism, we could only come up with one answer. Before he broke down in tears, he claimed that "Hating them was the only way that he could justify the things that he'd had to do". Maybe many of these people (both Israeli and Palestinian) are suffering from a similar condition, and are all victims of circumstance. Most of them have grown up in the midst of this conflict.

Isn't it strange that though in a region full of Muslims, the Palestinians find themselves alone?

THe Arab nations apparently don't want Armageddon to come raining down on their heads. Have you forgotten that Israel is one of the few if not the only nation in the area that possesses weapons of mass destruction including a nuclear arsenal, all thanks to Uncle Sam? But that's alright, they're our ally who serve as nice foothold in the region, which may be changing now that the U.S. owns Afghaqnsitan and will soon own Iraq.

I guess these Rabbis don't want peace.

Fortunately, there are some who do and they are working to help the Palastinians:

Rabbi group protects Palestinians from Jewish settlers

You're right, but I hope you didn't think I was anti-israel. I still think that the founding of the country was contraversial, but after what the Jews endured during WWII, a country of their own was probably a reasonable expectation.

And also, as an American, I feel that we're generally right to support Israel, the only democracy in the region. What I condemned was simply those extremist elements trying to subvert that democracy, by undermining the gaza pullout - illegal settlements are just plain wrong, and if I remember correctly, the majority of Israelis agree with that. Those settlements are built on what is (presently) Arab land. I would probably feel very defensive if six million of my kind were killed in a holocaust, but Palestinians didn't perform the Holocaust - Hitler did. Isn't it about time the suffering ended for everyone?