The Dangerous Post-War Doctrine of the IDF

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For several days now, in the aftermath of the outrageously dangerous proposals made by the IDF to the government on Wednesday, your humble servant has been writing about what has gone wrong with the IDF.

On Thursday, a local writer, Boaz Shapira, published an opinion piece on a local website that should be read by all. Today, we present an abridged version of that piece, translated by israelstreet.

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“‘The IDF Senior Command is Sick’

The IDF Senior Command is sick, and unfortunately for us, its horrible disease does not permit us to win the current battle against Palestinian terrorism, or win any war—perhaps ever again.

Whoever needs proof is invited to look at the army’s recommendation on Wednesday: the recommendation including the transfer of weapons, ammunition, and armored vehicles to the “Palestinian Security Authority” as part of further concessions to the Palestinians—as well as providing work permits in Israel to facilitate economic expansion, and more . . .The IDF’s working assumption is that increasing Palestinian employment will calm the area, as will expanding building permits in Area C and releasing prisoners.

This recipe for suicide was added to by the Commissioner of Chelm*, Moshe Ya’alon, who declared his intention to build a separation fence between Kiryat Gat and Hebron.

What do these proposals show?

That the IDF Senior Command has no understanding of past lessons, no disillusionment over Oslo, and no internalization of the harsh incitement of the Palestinians and their terrorist organizations. Furthermore, there is total obliviousness to the glorification of murderers by the Palestinian Authority which finances the murderers and their families. The IDF Senior Command treats all of these things as if they have never happened.

In actuality, scandalous and outrageous thinking like this in the IDF is not surprising at all, but the truth is that an army operating under this mindset cannot defeat the enemy; we cannot win.

Many years ago in the wake of the cursed Oslo Accords, there began to creep into the IDF a new military doctrine, a dangerous ‘post-war’ doctrine. IDF strategists created a new concept of the enemy, a concept premised on the idea that there is no war, but instead “a conflict that must be managed.” Violence must be “kept in check”; responses (if any) must be ‘proportionate.’ This new concept was necessary in order to promote ‘peace’ or at least maintain the ‘peace process.’  

The adoption of this concept has resulted in almost two thousand of our people being killed and thousands of more wounded since 1994,  not to mention economic damage in the hundreds of billions of shekels.

The Army top brass has largely become a prisoner of this concept, this crazy doctrine. The general headquarters . . . has lost the will to win.

And, in any case, whom would we defeat? There is no ‘enemy’, there is a ‘partner for peace’, and it does not matter if that partner was the murderer Arafat or is the Holocaust denier and killer Mahmoud Abbas . . .”

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Your humble servant could not agree more with Mr. Shapira. Here in southern Israel we have only to look at what happened in last year’s war with Hamas to see the truth of his words: “lost the will to win.”

We find ourselves in a sad state of affairs–governed by a philosophy that ensures that violent Palestinian terrorism will never be rooted out . . . only managed. 

*For those of you unfamiliar with city of Chelm, it exists in Jewish folklore as an imaginary city of fools.