Israeli soldiers should consider if it’s justified to fight in Gaza

Israeli troops in Gaza in February 2024

Noorit Felsenthal Berger writes in Haaretz on 20September 2024:

I woke up to another nightmare morning. Four soldiers from the Givati Brigade – one woman and three men – had been killed and many others were wounded. The rumors had begun the previous evening.
Once again I couldn’t breathe. My chest felt constricted as I tried to reach my son, but there was no cellphone reception. After a stretch that felt like an eternity, I was informed that his unit was okay. I felt both relief and terrible grief.

My son is in the southern Gaza town of Rafah because his compulsory military service was extended by four months after he had spent 10 straight months fighting in the Gaza Strip. Even during the Vietnam War, soldiers weren’t left on the battlefield for that long with no breaks.

His unit is responsible for evacuating the seriously wounded – “weighty evacuations,” a new bit of Israeli military slang I’ve learned. My son knows today that this fanatic government is wearing him and his comrades to the bone, cynically exploiting their devotion to each other. Still, he feels a responsibility. Somebody has to evacuate the wounded.   “Just another little while, Mom. It’ll be okay. Every day that passes is gone for good.”

He and Givati’s elite reconnaissance unit have been in Gaza for nearly a full year, since October 7, when they were stationed at Kibbutz Nahal Oz. My son has fought on every possible front there, and the Russian roulette continues, day after day. We get up every morning to another day and can only hope that it ends without incident.

I’m one of the leaders of a group called Parents of Combat Soldiers Are Shouting “Enough,” a word we’re shouting from every possible platform. We started in an attempt to prevent the invasion of Rafah in May, and we’re still shouting to this day. But our cries haven’t been heard, and we’ve run out of words.

The last two weeks have proved to us beyond a shadow of a doubt that continuing the war will kill the hostages. Hostages who could have been brought home alive are returning in coffins and body bags. This government and the man who heads it have abandoned the hostages and sacrificed the soldiers on the altar of staying in power.

We are patriotic Zionist families. Our children are sacrificing their lives, their bodies and their souls in a war that has no end. But the decision to keep fighting is being made by a loathsome messianic government made up of hard-hearted people with no diplomatic vision. It’s impossible to trust these decision-makers.

We blame the 64 members of the governing coalition for the terrible situation we’re in. We, the parents of patriotic soldiers, are forced to stop the insane merry-go-round they’ve dragged us all onto. We’re screaming that the war in Gaza must end! We must sign an agreement to free the hostages!

With heavy hearts and great trepidation, we’re telling our soldier sons and daughters that because of the disastrous results of the government’s policies, it’s their right and duty to exercise their own judgment about taking part in military operations in Gaza.

We support the defense chiefs – Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, IDF Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi, Shin Bet security service head Ronen Bar and Mossad director David Barnea. We urge them to make their voices heard, to stand strong against the decisions of this evil government and not allow the sacrifice and abandonment to continue. You are the last wall standing.

Without securing the hostages’ freedom through an agreement and without some kind of diplomatic arrangement, we will have no future here. And for them to return, we must leave Gaza.

Noorit Felsenthal Berger, a psychologist and the mother of an elite combat soldier, is a leader of the group Parents of Combat Soldiers Are Shouting “Enough.”

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