The IDF General Command Must Support Our Soldiers

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UPDATES 7 pm Israel time Thursday:

**Widespread Palestinian terrorism has continued across Judea and Samaria throughout the day in concert with the funerals of the three terrorists who have died in the last 24 hours: Maisara Abu Hamdiyeh–who died of cancer Soroka Hospital in Beersheva; and Amar Nasar and Najo Bilbisi–who were shot while attacking an IDF outpost last night (see Today’s Blog).

A synagogue has been vandalized, Israelis have been wounded with “rocks”, and full-on assaults of Israeli security personnel have taken place in Hebron, Tulkarm, and elsewhere. 

**The residents of southern Israel along the Gaza border were jolted out of their beds and sent running to their bomb shelters at 1:41 am this morning by incoming Palestinian rockets from Gaza.

**The Israeli neighborhood continues to degrade as well with fighting taking place on the Israel-Syrian and the Jordanian-Syrian borders, Syrians bombing targets in northern Lebanon, and Egyptians intercepting an Iranian ship full of weapons bound for Sinai.

TODAY’S BLOG:

Ultra orthodox soldiers of the Netzah Yehuda Battalion.

It’s about time. In fact, it is way past time.

A year of being wounded by Palestinian “rocks”, burned in Palestinian Molotov cocktail attacks, run over by Palestinian vehicles at checkpoints, and shot at and stabbed by Palestinian terrorists–all while being under extreme restrictions about returning fire–has left IDF soldiers as little more than sitting ducks.

Those serving in Judea and Samaria have become particularly exposed and vulnerable.

Last night, the orthodox Netzah Yehuda Battalion was partially deployed at an observation post near the Einav community in Samaria when it came under attack from Palestinians.  The terrorists opened fire and began hurling Molotov cocktails at the post.

An almost identical outpost near the one attacked last night.

Soldiers in the Battalion returned fire.

In the ensuing gunfight Amar Nasar and Najo Bilbisi from the Palestinian settlement of Anbata were killed. Another Palestinian from Tulkarm was wounded.

The funeral for the two terrorists in streets of Tulkarm today. Yesterday they were just terrorists, today they are "martyrs".

Your humble servant could not be more supportive of the soldiers of Netzah Yehuda. He wishes that the IDF could be just as supportive.

However, this morning–while the new Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon was declaring that Israel will not tolerate its soldiers being fired upon–the IDF spokesman’s office was ludicrously going to great lengths to say that the matter will be “investigated fully” to determine if shoot-to-kill orders were properly given, and if the soldiers could have controlled the situation without firing. 

It is unbelievable that the IDF has now reached the point of political correctness that even when its own soldiers are under fire and are at risk of their lives, they still have to worry about whether they are allowed to defend themselves.  Such is the legacy of former “Defense” Minister Ehud Barak and the continuing “leadership” of IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz–a legacy that will hopefully be reversed and a “leadership” that will hopefully be ended in the near future.

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