Four years ago, a group of Palestinian terrorists wounded ten Israelis in a shooting attack outside the Ofra settlement, including a pregnant woman, whose baby died after being born prematurely.
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Having escaped, the same group targeted IDF soldiers just three days later, killing two. Their fellow soldiers would later testify, "Our world came to an end. We carried their coffins at their funerals. We felt terrible pain and suffering."
These same soldiers were later sent by the military to arrest those who provided shelter for the senior terrorist, and unable to control their grief, beat them up on the way back after passing the scene of the attack.
There is no dispute that such an was wrong, and all five soldiers involved in the incident were held accountable.
But the real blow came when they learned that the terrorists were suing the state and them personally for damages. And what was most astonishing was the IDF's offer for compensation, which felt like a betrayal.
"We chose to leave the ultra-Orthodox world and enlist in the IDF, often without support and encouragement from family members, some of us as lone soldiers. We asked to enlist in combat units and contribute [to the state] as much as we could," the soldiers wrote in a crowdfunding campaign launched in recent days to help fund legal defense fees.
And so, one cannot help but think, what is the IDF thinking? At its core, such conduct is an attempt to evade responsibility, which not only clashes with morality, but with the very law of the state.
Morally speaking, the IDF's choice to send the soldiers to arrest the terrorists who had murdered their fellow fighters was appalling, as it put them in an impossible situation. What did the military expect would happen?
From a legal point of view, Israeli law stipulated that an employer is liable for the acts committed by his employee, which extends to the IDF as well.
True, the military can claim that it only sent the soldiers to arrest the terrorists, and not beat them up. True, young men are required to enlist by law and cannot ignore this duty. But a soldier is the extension of his commander and of the entire military.
The responsibility lies on the IDF, there is no doubt about it. The military must accept responsibility for its soldiers. It is morally, legally and ethically obligated to do so, because just as the soldiers are obligated to the military, so the military is obligated to the soldiers. It is a two-way street.
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