Doesn’t the Israeli left also have sons?
Doesn’t the Israeli left also have sons?

Every time I think I know something, turns out that I don’t. My lack of knowledge is vast.

For example, I thought I had it all figured out about the left, which make up, I’d say, about 10 percent of the Israeli population but runs so much of the entire show, like the high court, the news media and the arts, and even, in some cases, the top brass at the IDF.

Which brings us to the situation facing Elor Azariya, a 20-year-old sergeant from the storied Kfir Brigade who’s in trouble for finishing off a terrorist.

For doing that, he’s been charged, by a military court, of being too hasty, or to put it in official language, manslaughter and inappropriate behavior.

By the way, by use of American firepower, including drones, we kill thousands of terrorists every year in places like Somalia and Afgahnistan.

Nobody talks about manslaughter or inappropriate behavior. We just do it because a terrorist is a terrorist, we’re right and they’re wrong.

What I don’t get is the malice and the ruthless attacks against this soldier, coming from people who themselves have kids in constant jeopardy.
It’s us or them, so we prefer that it be them to take the bullet.

We shut up about it and make no big deal about dead terrorists. Navy Seal Chris Kyle is credited with being the most lethal sniper in American military history. He’s been credited with 160 kills during several tours in Iraq and it’s doubtful that he asked too many questions before taking aim. Even later nobody asked. He is considered a great warrior for our side, a hero.

Apparently it’s different in Israel, the part being run by the left, and which wants this soldier, Elor Azariya drawn and quartered, if you will forgive my exaggeration, but I don’t exaggerate too much. Instead of a medal of honor, which many of us think this Israeli hero deserves for acting so decisively, the left is onto a campaign to vilify this soldier and by insinuation his family and his unit…and the IDF…and Israel. (Our earlier coverage of this for Arutz Shevahere.)

The language being used against him is downright slanderous and we are not talking about the Arab side that a few nights ago held a victory party to celebrate a bus bombing in Jerusalem that burned and wounded more than a dozen Israeli civilians.

No, we’re talking about the Israeli left, the Haaretz types who have no patience for the facts, or for Jewish heroes, they’re so much in a hurry to pile it on this kid, and as I say, the invective has been brutal, and as I said earlier on, I remain clueless as to what motives the left.

Aren’t they also Israelis? Aren’t they also Jews, and here is the main point – don’t they also have sons and daughters in the military?

Aren’t they concerned about their own children in the same spot where Elor Azariya finds himself?

Or are there exemptions for the left? As soon as you show your Amira Hass or your Gideon Levy papers you are free to stay home.

Yes there are exemptions, but for other reasons. Most serve, and serve (along with the United States) in the most honorable military in the world.

So I get it, yes I get it about keeping it ethical, above reproach. What I don’t get is the malice and the ruthless attacks against this soldier, coming from people who themselves have kids in constant jeopardy. To what end is this spite and derision? What happened to Elor Azariya yesterday could be happening to your IDF child tomorrow.

Or is this thinking too deep for people who’ve already made up their minds, in the worst possible ways. Maybe it’s getting lost, the fact that every single soldier protects the entire nation, and this includes protection for leftists and Arabs, the million and a half of them who seem quite happy to stay put in a land that so often takes their side of any argument.

New York-based bestselling American novelist Jack Engelhard writes a regular column for Arutz Sheva. He is the author of the international classic “Indecent Proposal” now followed by the prophetic newsroom thriller “The Bathsheba Deadline.” Engelhard is the recipient of the Ben Hecht Award for Literary Excellence. Website: www.jackengelhard.com