Israel and its army... the model is broken!

The research, studies and articles written in the recent past on the Israeli army are endless. Most of them focused on the role played by the army in building and protecting the state and supporting its security and existence in the face of its enemies. It is true that the Israeli army faced many setbacks, as in the October 1973 war, the aggression against Lebanon in 2006, and the withdrawal from southern Lebanon by a unilateral decision in 2002. However, through revisions and specialized committees, he was able to correct some of the causes of those stumbling blocks, seeking to restore what he was promoting of prestige, superiority and an unbreakable army. At the present time, the challenges are different, and their source is internal, ambition, domination, and the predominance of individual interest.

The ruling philosophical direction of the Israeli army since its inception is that it is the melting pot in which all components of Israeli society melt, whatever their origin, previous nationalities, ideological and religious positions, and political orientations, for one goal, which is to protect the entity that was built since 1948. The melting pot of differences based on a higher goal From everyone and everyone agrees on it, it makes the army a symbol and a role model that generations are brought up on, and it is the main concept on which the idea of ​​​​structural and functional interdependence between effective reserve units and regular units is built; The first served in the army before, but its members continue to volunteer with their full satisfaction to carry out the military tasks that are required of them without any resentment or refusal, and they are summoned for regular training in order to preserve their capabilities and combat readiness, and the second is regular units that work according to orders and instructions until their service ends, and they turn into Reserve forces. The two components complement each other. The collapse of one drags the other with it to the same fate.

The Israeli experience makes the reserves an essential force in the military combat construction, and when that force refrains from performing its roles, what official and unofficial Israeli sources describe will certainly be affected by the readiness of the army as a whole to deter its enemies. itself an impossible matter. This task is entrusted to the current Chief of Staff, Helvey, who was appointed only half a year ago, and repeats in various councils, according to Israeli military analysts, that what is happening now in the political arena and the opposition to amendments to the judicial system undermines everything he plans to do, and makes his mission almost impossible, which is what He justifies his demand for the government to stop these amendments, to protect the cohesion of the army and to prepare for any emergency of a regional nature.

The leaks reveal the other position, which Prime Minister Netanyahu and his ministers from the extreme right insist on. The amendments passed, before the Knesset passed, and the amendment will turn into a law according to plan. Netanyahu knew that the state could bear the downtime of some flocks of planes, but it could not abandon a government that runs its business. The reference here is directed mainly at the reservists of pilots and ground service providers for the military aviation, who are estimated to number more than one thousand and one hundred elements, and who threatened to stop them from their reserve service if the amendments they see pass that make Israel a country ruled by an authoritarian, corrupt and theocratic government, which makes their willingness to risk their lives meaningless.

Air Force Reserve threats expand to include weapons and other units, ground, intelligence, and medical services. It is matched by threats from the Minister of Defense to hold these people accountable legally for refusing to serve, and harsh criticism from the right-wing ministers who branded the reservists as treason and aiding the enemies. Dialogue like this turns former heroes of Israeli society into traitors who must be mercilessly suppressed. This symbolic meaning puts the Israeli army and its model on which it was based as a role model and an example of integrity, solidarity, dissolving differences and sacrifice for the sake of all in another category, a negative and bitter category, according to the description of one of the reserve commanders.

So far, there have been no direct effects of the position of the reservists, especially the combat pilots who reject the amendments, on their counterparts in the regular service. Official instructions prohibit any discussions within the regular units. There is a desperate attempt to distance political divisions from the general mood of the regular units. However, no one can be certain of the ability to prevent any unrest, even a slight one, among the uniformed personnel, especially since in some units and sectors of the Israeli army there are sectarian and ethnic divisions, between the liberal Ashkenazim, who are concentrated in the Air Force and electronic services, and among the Mizrahi Jews, who are more concentrated in the Ground weapons, and they depend on the Air Force to protect them during operations.

The breaking of the example and the shattering of the code has already happened. Restoration and reform will require time, according to regular standards, upbringing and recruiting methods. Separating the Israeli army as an integrated security structure and structure from the policies of the government, that is, the current or future government, is unimaginable. Both rely on one main and sacred mission for society as a whole, which is to protect it and deter its enemies, according to popular belief. The fascist right’s perception of excluding all Israeli political forces and social components from participating in the administration of the state represents a watershed in the Israeli political system, and with it many watersheds in the structure and roles of other judicial, legislative, and executive institutions, and all security institutions, which are led by the army with its various branches. .

The objection expressed by the reserve forces is not directed at the amendments per se, but at their expected results on the overall structure of the state on the one hand, and on their interests as individuals, the vast majority of whom are eligible to be subjected to war crimes trials, especially in European countries that allow such cases to be filed, and before the International Criminal Court. , because of their participation in the killing of innocent civilians, in Lebanon, Syria, Sinai and the Jordan Valley, and in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. The fear of stigmatizing Israel as a country with a non-independent judicial system is what haunts the objectors out of caution, and their families.

The failure of the Israeli model as a “democratic” state, which its supporters promote without examining and examining what it is doing against the Palestinians, no longer needs new evidence. Even the Israelis themselves, who risked their lives for it, are now questioning the fate of their country, and the loss of what they thought was the model and ideal. In agreement with the "Middle East".