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AddReply(513984,"responses","Paula","Maale Adumim","11/08/09","First, thank you, Aryeh - for your defense of Elie...and me.\n\nSecond, I am not blind to the faults of the army. Chief among these faults is that it has allowed itself to be used (and abused) by politicians to do their dirty work. The army was not intended to be used as it was in Gaza, Northern Shomron, etc.\n\nYou can ask those who know me...I slept over in Kfar Maimon and watched as we failed to do what we promised we would....and in so doing, helped bring about the disengagement. We had our moment there, we were strong enough...or should have been. I drove through the night, as so many others did, trying to get to Kissufim through fields and rocks. I was in Netivot, Shderot, etc. etc. I was in Gush Katif; wrote about it, watched in disbelief.\n\nI was unsure when Elie went into the army but I didn\'t feel I had a choice...and I watched...as they treated my son with respect. Including his religious beliefs. He was told he would command a unit...and at the last minute, was told there were to be female soldiers in it. He refused - the army respected him, reassigned him to another respectable task and apologized for the mixup. He\'d made it clear. He is a religious soldier...he will serve his country, but he won\'t compromise. \n\nI find no shame in saying that I am in awe of the way my son has developed in the army and yes, how the army has treated him.\n\nIs the army perfect...no, not even close...proof of that came yet again last night when the stupid army doctor recommended lemon tea for a high fever...\n\nBut I am able to love the army and hate what they did. I can see the good and still condemn the bad.\n\nIt is wrong, even for those with whom I politically agree, to throw out the army because of Gush Katif. Throw out the horrid leaders (and we are trying); throw out the concepts that allowed it to happen. But the army IS our sons...and the more of them that go in and the harder they serve...the more the army will be  \"ours \" and they will never be used again.\n\nI was in Gush Katif after the  \"disengagement \"/expulsion. I saw the anger of the soldiers there. They had reassigned those involved elsewhere and pulled in new troops to handle the dismantling...and these troops were angry! They wore orange ribbons on their belts and tied them to the tanks and netting. I asked to see the synagogue in one yishuv and the young soldier looked me in the eye and said,  \"I have NO RIGHT to stop you. \"...and he didn\'t.\n\nThese are our sons. I saw them broken and crying. Does it forgive what they did? No...but they won\'t forgive themselves either.\n\nIt\'s time to heal the army and remember it is ours. The Jews of Gush Katif, contrary to all the idiot media, never raised their hands to our soldiers...because they knew they were ours.");
AddReply(512889,"A Different kind of  \"gift \" from the Army","Another Soldier\'s Mother","Kohav HaShahar","11/05/09","I am close to a fellow who was an  \"excellent soldier \" (not just my opinion; he was given this award). He had barely finished his service when his home was searched at 4 AM and he was slapped into jail. We still don\'t know the charges, but we imagine they feared he was going to resist the  \"Disengagement \". Later he was banished from his home in the Shomron, and jailed when he visited us (in northern Judea). We figured the army had more critical things to do in the middle of a war, but no... there seemed to be plenty of manpower to track and arrest this fellow whose major  \"crime \" is that he lives over the green line. The kids call that  \"tough on the Jews; easy on the Arabs \". That means that since the Jew is nonviolent and not a criminal, it is easy to find him and safe to come and arrest him. It is different with real terrorist, who is exremely violent, and whose fellow Arabs will help him hide, and riot when the IDF comes to look for him.\nAre we still Zionists despite this mistreatment? I am. I still think these SOBs are much better to have in power than the Turks or the Brits. But oh, my! It hurts so much that\'s the best I can think of to say about our current powers-that-be! Let us continue to pray for the coming of the true Messiah to redeem us from this mess.\nI hope your son enjoyed the vacation and that you have nothing but naches from him. I hope he is never given orders to harm his fellow Jews, and if he does, that he has the strength of character to refuse, even though it will land him in jail.  ");

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