Israel - Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on Thursday backed IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot on Thursday after he was criticized for comments in which he called for security forces to exercise restraint and avoid killing those carrying out terror attacks when it was not necessary.
Speaking at an IDF memorial ceremony on Thursday, Ya’alon said, “We must act in a calm and collected manner. We must not harm innocents and create circumstances in which hot-bloodedness from soldiers or police or citizens causes us to lose our humanity and morality in a way that will eventually erode our way and its justice.”
Ya’alon said that security forces must not have too quick a trigger finger. “We are fighting for our lives, but also our humanity.”
MKs from across the political spectrum on Thursday reacted to the comments from Eisenkot, who on Wednesday called for a degree of restraint from Israeli security forces in the face of less extreme terror attacks, saying “I don’t want to see a soldier empty a magazine [to shoot] a young girl with scissors.”
MK Bezalel Smotrich (Bayit Yehudi) slammed Eisenkot on Thursday in a complaint to Ya’alon. The right wing MK said that Eisenkot, who has served in the IDF for almost 40 years, was “degrading the sanctity of the IDF” in his call for a proportionate responses to ongoing threats.
Smotrich, 35, complained that Eisenkot’s remarks constituted “A flagrant andcontemptuous statement, which must not passwithout comment. (The comments) degradethe values that have accompanied us for thousands of years.” The letter did not specify which values Eisenkot was in breach of.
Eisenkot was speaking to soon-to-be conscripts at a high school in Bat Yam. When asked by a student about the proper response to attacks similar to those seen during the past few months, the army chief replied: “The IDF doesn’t need to get swept up in clichéd statements like ‘Kill or be killed’ or ‘Whoever comes at you with scissors needs to be killed.’ The tools that are at the soldiers’ disposal are sufficient,” the chief of staff said.
In support of the chief of staff, MK Elazar Stern (Yesh Atid), a Maj.-Gen. in the reserves, said on Thursday to Army Radio that he was “proud” of Eisenkot, and said Smotrich’s position would in reality result in unnecessary deaths.
Speaking to Israel Radio, Ilan Gilon (Meretz) said Eisenkot was bringing a welcome return of values and rules of engagement, in a time where every man “does as he pleases.”
In recent months, more than 30 Israelis have been killed by Palestinians who have committed car-rammings, stabbings, and shootings in what is being called “the lone-wolf intifada” or “the knives intifada.”
Immediate steps by security forces in neutralizing the attackers have generated controversy, as some have argued that police and soldiers use excessive force in subduing the assailants.
