Likud MK Ayoub Kara has agreed to withdraw his call for another public inquiry into the lost battle of Joseph\'s Tomb and the abandonment of the soldier Madhat Yusuf there. He acceded to a request by Prime Minister Sharon in this regard. Prime Minister Sharon said today that the Yusuf incident was an \"error\" and a \"deviation from the basic ideals of the IDF.\"
It will be recalled that a small group of soldiers guarded Joseph\'s Tomb in the otherwise Palestinian-controlled city of Shechem. At one point at the beginning of the Rosh HaShanah Arab Assault last year, mobs of Arabs attacked the soldiers, and Yusuf was wounded. Instead of an IDF offensive to rescue him, however, the decision was made to ask the Palestinians to extricate Yusuf and deliver him to the nearby Israeli base. However, a six-hour delay ensued, during which time Yusuf received no medical care and bled to death. The army was widely accused of backtracking on its sacred rule of never abandoning a soldier.
MK Kara - a member, like the deceased Yusuf, of the Druze community - explained this morning why he was pushing for a commission of inquiry:
\"First of all, this was the first time that the IDF ever relied on a foreign entity to save a wounded soldier, bleeding to death. This has destroyed the trust between the soldiers and the top army brass. There were two helicopters nearby, and [then-Prime Minister and Defense Minister] Ehud Barak was nearby... We want to know who made the decision to trust Jibril Rajoub while a wounded soldier was bleeding to death for six hours. Someone has to pay the price…\" Kara also noted that two former soldiers told him that Israel paid money to Rajoub to save Yusuf, \"although it\'s not clear exactly what happened. There is talk that Rajoub first hung up on Barak, and even then the IDF continued to rely on him - and even when there was a half-hour of quiet when the Arabs weren\'t there. Later, Rajoub demanded 50,000 shekels, half of which he received up front, according to what is being said... All this must be investigated.\"
Former IDF Chief of Staff Amnon Lipkin-Shachak responded to the above by saying, \"I am surprised that MK Kara would run to the press before trying to find out if these very shocking charges are true. In addition, the source is very suspect; why did these former soldiers wait a year before coming out with this story?\" Shachak said that even if some of the decisions made at the scene were not 100% correct, \"unless they were totally unreasonable, I don\'t think that any further action need be taken.\"
It will be recalled that a small group of soldiers guarded Joseph\'s Tomb in the otherwise Palestinian-controlled city of Shechem. At one point at the beginning of the Rosh HaShanah Arab Assault last year, mobs of Arabs attacked the soldiers, and Yusuf was wounded. Instead of an IDF offensive to rescue him, however, the decision was made to ask the Palestinians to extricate Yusuf and deliver him to the nearby Israeli base. However, a six-hour delay ensued, during which time Yusuf received no medical care and bled to death. The army was widely accused of backtracking on its sacred rule of never abandoning a soldier.
MK Kara - a member, like the deceased Yusuf, of the Druze community - explained this morning why he was pushing for a commission of inquiry:
\"First of all, this was the first time that the IDF ever relied on a foreign entity to save a wounded soldier, bleeding to death. This has destroyed the trust between the soldiers and the top army brass. There were two helicopters nearby, and [then-Prime Minister and Defense Minister] Ehud Barak was nearby... We want to know who made the decision to trust Jibril Rajoub while a wounded soldier was bleeding to death for six hours. Someone has to pay the price…\" Kara also noted that two former soldiers told him that Israel paid money to Rajoub to save Yusuf, \"although it\'s not clear exactly what happened. There is talk that Rajoub first hung up on Barak, and even then the IDF continued to rely on him - and even when there was a half-hour of quiet when the Arabs weren\'t there. Later, Rajoub demanded 50,000 shekels, half of which he received up front, according to what is being said... All this must be investigated.\"
Former IDF Chief of Staff Amnon Lipkin-Shachak responded to the above by saying, \"I am surprised that MK Kara would run to the press before trying to find out if these very shocking charges are true. In addition, the source is very suspect; why did these former soldiers wait a year before coming out with this story?\" Shachak said that even if some of the decisions made at the scene were not 100% correct, \"unless they were totally unreasonable, I don\'t think that any further action need be taken.\"