A resident of the Beit Shemesh community recently wrote this letter regarding the connections between the Lebanese War Front and last summer’s Expulsion of Jews from Gush Katif and the 4 Shomron Towns.
Dear Sirs,
With all the calls for inquiries into the botched war effort just behind us, I am surprised not to see more said about the obvious connections to the activities of the summer of ’05 which occupied our army. It seems to me the most guilty parties are not those who poorly ran this summer’s debacle in Lebanon (though they are undoubtedly extremely guilty and must be ousted), but rather those who wasted the army’s resources and manpower over a year ago, training masses of our soldiers to remove fellow Jews from their homes in Gush Katif and parts of the Shomron. All that time and all that money should have been directed at training and equipping the army for war with our enemies, which the entire intelligence community knew was inevitable. All the resources expended to convince the average Israeli that the “disengagement” was a great idea, should have gone into keeping our bomb shelters well-stocked and our citizens better protected. All the money spent on buying spanking new outfits for the soldiers to look their best as they removed hard-working productive Israelis from their homes, livelihoods, and communities, could have better been spent on making sure they would be properly equipped with the best equipment and adequate food and supplies a year later. All the effort and time expended in brainwashing so many thousands of young soldiers to be able to do to fellow Israelis what they would never want done to themselves or their families, could have been much better used in planning and training for the inevitable battles against our sworn enemies. When it came time to do the work that the army is supposed to do – namely, to protect us all from our enemies – there was not enough energy left for decent planning, not enough food or supplies, and inadequate equipment. The people, and especially the soldiers who went into Lebanon to defend us all, deserve much better leadership and some really truthful answers as to how our money and our finest brains could have been so wrongly diverted.
Deborah Buckman
Beit Shemesh
For more perspective and context regarding the above letter, click on these remarks made by the Rabbi of Amona: Peretz and Olmert Playing Tough With Kids
Full Text;
Rabbi Yair Frank, chief rabbi of Amona, told Arutz Sheva Radio on Tuesday that he finds linkage between the violent destruction of homes in Amona by the arms of the government and the failures of the recent war against the Hizbullah in Lebanon. Rabbi Frank’s home was one of the nine homes ordered demolished.
“The results of those actions were seen clearly during the war in the north,” Rabbi Frank said. “When one is busy primarily with destroying Jewish homes, and is captivated by the dream of peace, one is unprepared and forfeits the security of the residents of Israel.”
Rabbi Frank went on to charge, “Even today, Olmert and Peretz are trying to look tough and determined on the backs of the children of the communities of Judea and Samaria in order to escape the spotlight of criticism on their management during the war.”