-Caveat Lector- w w w . h a a r e t z d a i l y . c o m
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=262399 &contrassID=2&subContrassID=4&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y Put Sharon on trial. Here. Israel has always been proud of the concept "purity of arms." The principle allowed us to build a morally defensive shield against the corrupting influence of all wars, even morally imperative wars such as the one against terror. It is difficult to tell which kind of war makes it more difficult to maintain this sublime idea - conventional wars against other countries, or the unconventional war in which Israel is now entangled with the Palestinian Authority. A few days ago, Kamala Abu Sa'id, the 65-year-old stepmother of a wanted man, was killed during the demolition of her home in Gaza by Israeli soldiers. I emphasize the demolition was done by Israeli soldiers, since by saying it was done by the IDF would take away the personal nature of that action, as well as hundreds of similar actions conducted in recent months by armed Israeli soldiers. It was said that there was a search of the house before the demolition, but it turns out that it was not sufficiently thorough because apparently nobody cared enough. Thus, innocent Palestinians are killed day after day without anyone being held accountable. The principle of "purity of arms" has been replaced by a philosophy of "superficial concern for non-combatants." And although it is possible to understand the emotional reaction of a soldier to the death of a comrade, especially during battle, it is the duty of military discipline to restrain the natural instinct for revenge. The reason the field commanders confirm with a nod of the head the deviation from that norm is because of the backing for it from the highest levels of the army, leading directly to the prime minister himself. As someone who was a simple soldier in the war in Lebanon, it is clear to me that the collapse of the military ethic, including purity of arms, officially began during that war, in the refugee camps of Sabra and Chatilla, when Ariel Sharon was defense minister. For Sharon, the contempt for the ethical dimension of warfare began much earlier, in Gaza and Kibyeh, but then his influence and methods were felt only at the platoon level. In the Lebanon War, as defense minister, his influence was universal. But the contempt he demonstrated then toward purity of arms took its own vengeance on him and he was fired from that job. Twenty years have passed and Sharon is again in a position of power from which he can set the standards for Israeli fighting. Apparently, what guided Sharon during his military career and reached its shameful climax at Sabra and Chatilla, now dictates the way the IDF conducts its war against terror - with scorn for the moral standards at the heart of the Israeli Army since its establishment. And thus we are every day witness to the indiscriminate killing of Palestinian civilians: not those caught in a cross- fire, but people like that 65-year-old woman. It's possible that for the prime minister, "all is fair in love and war." We have a Jewish answer to that: "Justice, justice, shall though pursue" (Deuteronomy, XVI:20). The rabbis say that the word justice appears twice to say that a just cause must be achieved through just means. That biblical commandment is the earliest form of the IDF's principle of purity of arms. The world community wants to put Sharon on trial for war crimes because of his role in the Sabra and Chatilla massacres, but we are the ones who should put him on trial, for desecrating the principles of the IDF, which were meant to prevent that horror then, and for the ongoing killing of the innocent now. Due to his subterfuge of the moral integrity of the Jewish people, Ariel Sharon stands accused in the court of Jewish decency. And to those of us who stand in silence, in the words of the great Jewish theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel, "Some all guilty, but all are responsible." Rabbi Forman is chairman of Rabbis for Human Rights By David Forman /hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=262399 close window Forwarded for your information. 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