“Pogo Was Right”

The scenes on the television news and in the newspapers the next day were graphic and disturbing. Mounted police wielding clubs confronted stone-throwing teens in a heated and bloody melee. Yet this was not the picture with which we have become all too familiar during these days if Intifada violence in which Israeli security personnel array themselves against Palestinian youths violently protesting Israeli occupation or the routing of the security fence. No, to our deep, soul-freezing disquietude, these were scenes of Israeli Jewish teenagers cursing and defying the Israeli authorities who came to the illegal outpost of Amonah in the West Bank to dismantle nine buildings in accordance with government orders.

Yes, Pogo was right, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” But, who, exactly is the enemy here? Is it the stone-throwing teenager spewing defiance at the very symbols of Israeli democracy and the rule of law? Or is it the baton-wielding policeman who, reacting to the rocks, paint, eggs and curses being hurled by the out-of-control youth, slashes headlong into the crowd in apparent overzealous use of force? No matter the answer, Pogo was right the enemy is us. No one can blame any outside foe for the tragedy that was the Amonah evacuation this past Wednesday.

The events of this past week—in such sharp contrast to the generally peaceful evacuation of Gush Katif and the Gaza settlements this past summer—adumbrate the harsh truth that Israelis face the real possibility of violent civil strife as we take the inevitable next steps toward removing Jewish settlers from the West Bank whether through negotiation with a Palestinian governmental authority or by unilateral action in absence of a negotiating partner. This will be the gravest test Israel will have ever faced in its history; greater than any threat posed by its Arab enemies.

But, who were those youths at the Amonah barricades? They were kids—young teens of fifteen and sixteen years old; too young even to serve in the army. What, we might ask, were they doing there in harm’s way?

At the time of the first Intifada, and when the last Intifada broke out, we saw young teens throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers, who responded with force—sometimes deadly force—and we asked, “Where are their parents? How could their parents allow their children to put themselves at such risk? Is any political cause worth sacrificing your young children?”

Today, we hear Jewish parents “admitting” that these Hilltop Youth as they are called, are out of control. Out of control? More so than those Palestinian youths? Can we condemn the actions of Palestinian youths while defending those of our own children? If we can demand to know where their parents were, and how their parents could allow children to put themselves in harm’s way, should we not ask ourselves the same hard questions? And more, where were the parents? Where were the rabbis of the settler movement? Why were they not there attempting to bring calm, trying to dissuade these children from attacking the police and the soldiers? How could they stay at home while their children were in such danger?

The young teens, brutal and brutalized at Amonah, are among those whose anger at the government and resentment over what they perceive as an abandonment of the Land of Israel by the Israeli authorities has turned them against the very symbol of that authority—the army. Those Hilltop Youth who riot and defy the authorities in these increasingly violent confrontations risk losing the right to serve in TzaHaL, the Israel Defense Forces.

In Israel, the army holds a mythic, almost sacred place in the culture of the nation. It’s very name TzaHaL—Tzva Haganat L’Israel (literally, the Army of Defense of Israel), bespeaks a history held in reverence by Israelis of soldiers—men and women—who have given their lives helping to create, sustain and protect this little country of ours. The army has been the meeting place where life-long friendships are begun, marriages made, and careers determined. Young people agonize about which unit or branch of service they will get in to the same way that American teens stress over which college or university will accept them. There is simply no institution in Israeli life that is held in such high regard as the army.

For most Israelis the attitude of the Hilltop Youth is unthinkable; not serving in the army is beyond imagining. And yet, when confronted by this very real possibility, many of the Hilltop Youth defiantly respond that they do not intend to serve in an army that represents a country that they do not support. Crazy words? Maybe, but, remember, these are fourteen and fifteen year olds. How many young teens make equally outlandish statements without understanding their consequences? All the more reason to ask again, “Where are their parents? Where are their rabbis?” These youngsters have been indoctrinated—intentionally, though I would not say cynically—to sincerely believe that they are defending Torah and the Land of Israel and fulfilling God’s will for the Jewish people. It is therefore incumbent upon those who have inculcated those values to protect these children and not allow them to be used as pawns. They should not be allowed to take actions the consequences of which they are too young to fully appreciate.

And we must remember that they are our children. We, along with their parents, bear responsibility for them. So too do we bear responsibility for the actions of the police and military personnel who carried out the government’s orders to evacuate Amonah and may have done so with excessive force. Was there another way to accomplish the evacuation? That is for a commission of inquiry to determine and I imagine—I hope—there will be one.

So, where does this leave us? Though the majority of Israelis favor the government’s position in evacuating these illegal settlements, is it worth the political and social risks? Consider this: There are those who argue that the forced evacuation of these illegal settlements will only encourage Israel’s enemies and that it shows signs of weakness. Might not the opposite be the case? Israel is a country where the rule of law can effectively be enforced—even against its own people. Can the same be said of the Palestinian Authority? I dare say that there are those in the Palestinian government—most assuredly in Fatah, but also in Hamas—who are most likely very envious of the Israeli government right now. The Israeli government has demonstrated authority and the ability to enforce that authority in evacuating Gaza and, most recently, Amonah.

There will be many more—and more difficult—evacuations in the future. How they are carried out and how they will be challenged may well determine the future of the country, not just the shape of Israel on a map, but also the social shape and integrity of our national unity. We cannot afford to have Pogo prove correct in every encounter and certainly not in the long run.

Shalom from Jerusalem