Someone in the IDF who is making decisions either has no combat experience or has never been in a street fight before. Obviously he also lacks emuna in our Torah and in our right to our holy Land of Israel.
Rashi says in his commentary on Chumash, that retreat is the beginning of defeat - he was so right.
Several days ago, armed IDF soldiers made a humiliating retreat from a mob of rock-throwing Arabs in Kafr Kaddum, a village in Samaria. When investigated, the soldiers said they were afraid to open fire for their orders were unclear. Besides, with the leftist attitudes of the self-deprecating secular Israeli media, the leftist judiciary and the government - who often places appeasing foreign governments ahead of the Torah's commandments and protecting its citizens - the soldiers were afraid to use their weapons.
One IDF spokesman justified the soldiers' restraint: "Our duty is to act proportionately. Live fire is the last means. We do not want to fire randomly at a crowd or strike noncombatants. And if we hit a combatant, we are obligated to provide medical assistance," he added.
I'd call rock-throwers combatants. A rock on the head can kill.
There's an important principle in combat, whether in the field or in the street: once the enemy attacks, neutralize him as quickly as you can. The first blow must be totally effective; the fight should be over as soon as possible.
The IDF spokesman with his parlor-room philosophies of "acting proportionately" sounds like the CNN or a European-Union spokesman. This attitude in life-and-death situations is symptomatic of many of the top IDF brass, who - like many of their civilian counterparts - care about car and career benefits much more than they care about Judaism and the homeland. They too are passing the buck, blaming their failures on the politicians that don't let them fight battles to win. To our dismay, few of the decision-making politicians are emuna-oriented.
The soldier in the field blames the officer, the officer blames the GHQ, and the GHQ blames the government. This a pathetic Israeli anti-emuna version of the Old Woman that Swallowed a Fly.
The Hamas in Gaza and the Tanzeem and Jihad in the West Bank no longer fear the IDF. Deterrence is at an all-time low. IDF infantrymen are being chased out of villages by rock-throwing teens. At this rate, Intifada #3 is fast on the way. When our enemies smell fear, they'll go for the jugular. This is not a game - it's survival.
Without observing the Torah, a Jew has no right to the Land of Israel. King David says explicitly at the end of Psalm 105 that Hashem gave us this holyland for the sole purpose of observing His commandments. But, where there's no emuna in Hashem, there's no dedication to our homeland. A soldier who lacks dedication will never be effective. A weak but dedicated soldier can overcome a stronger enemy who lacks faith in what he's doing.
The government and the IDF can take one of two choices: it's either teshuva, emuna and fighting a no-holds-barred battle with a cruel enemy or losing deterrence and running a dozen times a day to the bomb shelters.
Hashem is sending the rock-throwing Pallies to show us just how flabby we've become with our lack of emuna. He wants us to strengthen our emuna and our hold on the holy Land of Israel. Let the old woman swallow flies, but let's fill our mouthes with words of emuna. I hope someone in the government or in the IDF brass is listening. Hashem is now giving us a clear-cut choice - either emuna or another Intifada.
Living without emuna is downright dangerous. Why expose ourselves to danger? We all have a job to do, and that's strengthening our emuna right away. Don't delay!
