The Jordan Valley terrorist attack two nights ago, in which Lt. Tal Tzemach was killed while returning fire, ended when Jordan Valley Brigade Commander Col. Chilik Sofer killed the two attackers. \"I knew I could get hurt, but I felt that it was my duty to charge them,\" he later said. In the past months, five Brigade Commanders have killed armed terrorists. Maj. (res.) Erez Eshel, of the Paratroopers Brigade and head of both the \"Leadership\" Seminar and the Ein Prat Institute in Kfar Adumim, was asked today, \"Does this mean that only the top officers know how to fight?\" Eshel\'s response pointed out what he felt was the problem, but he still left his listeners with an encouraging message:
\"I think that the fighting capabilities of the soldiers are fine, and so is their level of training and equipment - but there may be a problem with their spirit. This is the difficult issue of our generation. There are many who act heroically: Many Border Guard policemen, and even traffic policemen, who have lately stepped in when needed to kill terrorists and end attacks - and even in this last attack in the Jordan Valley, the young new recruits functioned the way we would want them to: they responded, charged, and returned fire even though their immediate commander was killed… But there is a problem. Many soldiers are receiving mixed signals, such as when they see well-publicized pictures of a soldier in Ramallah asking himself what a \'Hebrew lad is doing so far from the homeland.\' It shows that this Hebrew lad doesn\'t know what his homeland is…
\"This lack of spirit explains why the Arabs feel, for the first time since before the Six-Day War, that they can destroy the Jewish State. It\'s obviously not that they have better weapons or armies than we do; it\'s a problem with the spirit. This is manifest in the fact that some soldiers can use their ranks to call for a refusal to serve in Judea and Samaria - and we don\'t hear other youths calling on them to shut up! … Our youth is confused.
\"[But still] there are many young officers who display great courage and self-sacrifice; I was witness to an example of this just last night… In addition, many reserve soldiers are also imbued with this [positive] spirit; the fact is that only 300 of them signed the famous \'refusal\' letter, despite the massive publicity it got, and in many places they show up for reserve duty at a rate of 100%…\"
Maj. Eshel said that the leading officers in the IDF are a source of great encouragement:
\"Chief of Staff-designate Maj.-Gen. Moshe Yaalon, Naval Commander Maj.-Gen. Yedidya Ya\'ari, and Air Force Commander Maj.-Gen. Dan Halutz are a trio of Yom Kippur War veterans who know what we are fighting for, who never shirk their duties - I remember Yaalon when he was my commander showing up in full gear for every exercise, no matter where, and always leading the way - and who know how to define the objectives and not fear what people will say. Their sole mission is the Israel Defense Forces, and they don\'t see their current positions as springboards for something else…
\"I also want to tell you something else: We are now accepting applications for our Leadership Seminar - and there are more than 3,000 applicants for only 200 places! Each of them is willing to push off his army service for a year in order to form a generation of educational and societal leaders for the People of Israel… So you see, there is hope - and we will win in the end.\"
\"I think that the fighting capabilities of the soldiers are fine, and so is their level of training and equipment - but there may be a problem with their spirit. This is the difficult issue of our generation. There are many who act heroically: Many Border Guard policemen, and even traffic policemen, who have lately stepped in when needed to kill terrorists and end attacks - and even in this last attack in the Jordan Valley, the young new recruits functioned the way we would want them to: they responded, charged, and returned fire even though their immediate commander was killed… But there is a problem. Many soldiers are receiving mixed signals, such as when they see well-publicized pictures of a soldier in Ramallah asking himself what a \'Hebrew lad is doing so far from the homeland.\' It shows that this Hebrew lad doesn\'t know what his homeland is…
\"This lack of spirit explains why the Arabs feel, for the first time since before the Six-Day War, that they can destroy the Jewish State. It\'s obviously not that they have better weapons or armies than we do; it\'s a problem with the spirit. This is manifest in the fact that some soldiers can use their ranks to call for a refusal to serve in Judea and Samaria - and we don\'t hear other youths calling on them to shut up! … Our youth is confused.
\"[But still] there are many young officers who display great courage and self-sacrifice; I was witness to an example of this just last night… In addition, many reserve soldiers are also imbued with this [positive] spirit; the fact is that only 300 of them signed the famous \'refusal\' letter, despite the massive publicity it got, and in many places they show up for reserve duty at a rate of 100%…\"
Maj. Eshel said that the leading officers in the IDF are a source of great encouragement:
\"Chief of Staff-designate Maj.-Gen. Moshe Yaalon, Naval Commander Maj.-Gen. Yedidya Ya\'ari, and Air Force Commander Maj.-Gen. Dan Halutz are a trio of Yom Kippur War veterans who know what we are fighting for, who never shirk their duties - I remember Yaalon when he was my commander showing up in full gear for every exercise, no matter where, and always leading the way - and who know how to define the objectives and not fear what people will say. Their sole mission is the Israel Defense Forces, and they don\'t see their current positions as springboards for something else…
\"I also want to tell you something else: We are now accepting applications for our Leadership Seminar - and there are more than 3,000 applicants for only 200 places! Each of them is willing to push off his army service for a year in order to form a generation of educational and societal leaders for the People of Israel… So you see, there is hope - and we will win in the end.\"