IDF Chief of Staff Disrespects the Talmud? Or Worse?

ט׳ לחודש השנים עשר תשע״ו

Arutz 7: IDF Chief of Staff dismisses Talmudic 'slogan'
Eizenkot questioned by high-schooler on open-fire orders endangering soldiers' lives, goes on to pooh-pooh famed maxim of the Jewish sages.

Ari Yashar, 2/17/2016

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot made a surprising statement on Wednesday morning during a visit to Bat Yam, in which he defended the army's controversial open-fire orders and brushed off the teachings of the Jewish sages.

Eizenkot (right) with Defense Minister Ya'alon, before his promotion last year.

During his visit to the city's cultural center which was attended by high school students, he said, "the phenomenon of terror accompanies Israeli society throughout the years, and there also were knifings years ago. It could be in Tel Aviv, in Otniel or Ariel. We see mutual influence between what happens in the Middle East with Daesh (ISIS) and what happens for us here (in Israel)."

One of the high school students asked Eizenkot whether he intends to change the opening fire procedures, arguing that the current orders endanger the lives of IDF soldiers and are stricter than ever.

Last August the orders were made even tighter, mandating soldiers in Judea and Samaria to only fire in the air, and not even shoot the lower extremities of an attacker other than in extreme cases of imminent life-threatening danger. In May, it was reported that IDF soldiers were told to avoid killing terrorists, even if they spot them as they are about to throw a potentially lethal firebomb or rock at a car.

But Eizenkot argued the orders don't need changing on Wednesday, and went on to disparage a famous Talmudic maxim on self-defense.

"The IDF cannot speak in slogans like 'when someone comes to kill you – kill him first,'" he said, citing the dictum. Eizenkot also dismissed as a "slogan" the following: "everyone holding scissors must be killed." Arab terrorists have conducted numerous lethal stabbings with scissors during the recent wave of attacks.

The Talmudic dictum was recently quoted by Chief Sephardic Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef last October, when he praised soldiers who kill attacking terrorists and lauded them for performing a mitzvah. (cont.)

Esser Agaroth (2¢):
The impression of Gen. Eizenkot we get from this report descends fairly quickly from a place of apparent naïveté to one of either ignorance or incompetence. It is hard to tell. Eizenkot does not even come off like a real general. Instead, he seems more like the caricature of a general.

In his visit on Wednesday, Eizenkot also spoke about the security cooperation with the Palestinian Authority (PA).

"There is cooperation with the Palestinian security mechanisms, there are 40,000 security personnel of this sort," he said, noting the large number of PA forces who were established and armed by Israel in the 1994 Oslo Accords.

The general is proud of this fact? That the State of Israel has been arming people who want to annihilate the Jewish People, and conquer all of Eretz Yisra'el, the Jewish Homeland, for its own?

Does he really mention the Oslo Accords as something which has shown itself to have been something positive to Am Yisra'el? It sure sounds this way.

Ari Yashar quite correctly points out that...

A growing number of the terrorists in recent attacks have proven to be PA policemen, in a disturbing trend that is being openly promoted by sources such as Hamas.

Following the 2000 Second Intifada or Oslo War, in which over 1,000 Israelis were murdered, PA officials later bragged that 70% of the attacks were conducted by PA Security Force members.

In a report from YNET, on the general's visit to the Bat-Yam cultural center, we are informed that he stated...

"The West Bank has thousands of troops operating amongst two million Palestinians and hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens. We educate our soldiers to act according to the IDF's ethics and spirit, and it is much easier to work with Syria or Lebanon in this matter. If we were to act in an unethical manner in our rules of engagement, it would pose a threat to the IDF. There were 170 terrorist incidents in recent months, and more than 100 terrorists were killed in situations in which the troops had split-second decisions to make. I would not want a soldier to unload an entire clip into a girl who is holding scissors. Our troops are moral and we know how to preserve this quality."

Well, it no surprise that Gen. Eizenkot favors Western exile morality over Torah morality. In contrast...

...A week earlier senior Sephardic Rabbi Meir Mazuz urged Israeli bystanders to kill terrorist attackers rather than capture them alive, and Tzfat (Safed) Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu likewise warned not to let terrorists "survive their attacks," to prevent their ability to be freed and return to attack again....

To what "threat" Gen. Eizenkot is referring, which he believes would target the IDF, I have absolutely no idea. Nor, do I know what he means by "unethical manner." Defending oneself effectively against attack is unethical, and waiting until the last possible millisecond to defend oneself is ethical?

Fata"h Party Emblem

PLO Emblem
worn by Arafat ysh"w

Furthermore, Gen. Eizenkot has obviously never seen, or is, at the very least, oblivious to the maps which can be found the emblems "Palestinian" organizations. These are not even considered by the State of Israel as the extremists, but rather the mainstream "Palestinian" leadership.

Has he been living under a rock?

How does he believe these maps ended up on their emblems? By accident?

I do not know which would be worse, Gen. Eizenkot really seeing PA President Abbas's Fata"h Party differently from Hamas and Hezbollah, or him not seeing them as being much different from one another, but pushing such IDF policies anyway, which put soldiers at even greater risk than they already are.

Many will gladly point the finger at Gen. Eizenkot, knowing how obviously wrong and dangerous the IDF's open-fire policy is. But, the finger really needs to be pointed at those much higher up on the food chain, orchestraters of the Oslo Accords, such as Shimon Peres (left). Second on the list, should come Prime Minister Netanyahu (right), who has apparently been rendered powerless to do anything, by his handlers, both inside and outside of Israel.

Jewish lives clearly do not matter nearly as much as what the goyim will say.

Oh, and what about the State of Israel's chief military officer referring to a line from the Talmud as a "slogan?"

If this really shocks you, then you are the ones who have been living under a rock.