Soldier, don't be a partner to the crime. The obligation to refuse illegal orders is fivefold.
First off, it is forbidden to implement an anti-democratic policy that has not won the support of the people. By carrying out an order that violates the will of the people, the soldier is destroying the foundations on which the both the nation and army are built. The goal of the army is to carry out the will of the people. When the army is used for personal political objectives, it loses its mandate to act.
A prime minister who was elected on a platform opposing the expulsion plan certainly does not have the right to violate his mandate and demand it be implemented. If the plan is ever brought one day before the people and they are given the chance to vote on it, then, one day, there may be a chance to claim it has a mandate from the people.
However, even had the expulsion won a mandate from the people that would still not have made it legal. Ethnic cleansing is explicitly forbidden by international law. If the majority of Whites in America voted to enslave Blacks, that would not make it legal. Basic human rights can not be violated based on majority votes. A racist policy remains illegal even if it wins popular support.
Forbidding a person to live somewhere just because he is Jewish is prohibited in most countries. Racism is simply not tolerated. It would be a good idea if the Jewish state would adopt the same policy forbidding anti-Semitic discrimination here in the Land of Israel. There is certainly no justification for the current policy forbidding discrimination only against Arabs and allowing discrimination against Jews. At all accounts, it is forbidden for a soldier to carry out a racist order.
It is also forbidden for a soldier to carry out an order which violates the ethical code of the IDF. As is well known, the IDF's ethical code explicitly forbids IDF soldiers using force against civilians. Any force a soldier uses to expel Jews from their homes puts him in direct contradiction of the rules of the IDF. Should a soldier violate IDF law in order to save Ariel Sharon's political career? The IDF was, of course, created to protect Jews and fight their enemies. Should an Israeli soldier be really be used to carry out orders that harm Jews and aid Israel's enemies?
Of course, you could always say you were just following orders. That you were just doing what they told you to do. As if you have no will of your own. Yes, it's certainly sad that Jews would use the same excuse as the Nazis did to justify exterminating the Jewish people. Back then, Jews rightly countered that every human being has free will and one can not absolve himself of responsibility by claiming he is just a cog in a machine. But hey, who wants to go to jail? Better to abandon your values than be punished, right?
Then again, once you start surrendering your values, when do you stop? When will you finally stand up for your rights? When they come to expel your mother and father from their home? When they come to expel your wife and kids? Or even then do you remain silent? Rationalizing the situation is easy. Being brave takes guts.
The IDF itself teaches that a soldier is required to refuse illegal orders. When I was a soldier in the Golani Brigade the example given us was one where illegal orders where given against Arabs, but it seems to me that Jews are also human beings whose basic rights deserve protection. The example given was that of Kfar Kassem. In the 1950s, during a period of fighting, a curfew was put on the Arab village of Kfar Kassem. The local commander ordered the soldiers to shoot anyone who violated the curfew. Several Arabs where killed before the order was cancelled. We Golani soldiers were taught that this was an example where a soldier is required to refuse to carry out orders.
The State's Attorney General himself, Menny Mazuz, last year expressed understanding for refusing army orders. He said a soldier whose conscious does not allow him to carry out certain acts should be sympathized with and not prosecuted by the law. Mazuz was, of course, referring to leftist soldiers who objected to serving in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. But there is no reason why pro-Zionist Israelis should not employ Mazuz' bias in favor of left-wing radicals to support their own convictions.
Last and certainly least, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon himself has said in the past that it is forbidden to carry out orders to destroy Jewish towns. He also said a Jew who is told to carry out an order that goes against his conscious should appear before his commander and tell him he is incapable of carrying it out.
Soldiers must not be scared to refuse illegal orders even if they are threatened with violence or jail. Might does not make right. We must stand up for justice regardless of the cost. Fear of losing positions of honor or salaries does not make perpetrating a crime excusable. There are things in life more important than honor and money. It is to be hoped that Sharon's tyrannical regime will soon fall and those that were brave enough to stand up for what's right will return to their former positions.
They say refusing orders will destroy the army. Yes, the same people who supported or were silent when the radical leftists refused to serve in Judea and Samaria now say it's a terrible crime to refuse orders. Yes, the very same post-Zionists who say we don't need a Jewish state at all and don't even serve in the IDF themselves are suddenly very worried about the condition of army. But isn't it really the opposite? Isn't using the army for political ends against the will of the people what will destroy the army? Won't following illegal, immoral and racist orders destroy the fabric of the IDF?
But above all else, it is forbidden for a Jew to violate the Torah and rebel against God. The Rambam says explicitly that if a king decrees that a Jew must violate the Torah, we don't listen to him. But what does the Rambam know. We are much smarter than him. Besides its better to violate the Torah than go to jail, right?
The Bible is, of course, full of stories of Jews who refused to carry out immoral orders. King David refused to appear before King Saul when ordered to do so because he feared Saul would harm him. Shifra and Puah refused to murder Jewish babies when commanded by Pharoah. Mordechai refused to bow before Haman. The Maccabees refused to bow before idols. Asher and Amsa, the top generals in the Jewish army, refused King Saul's orders to attack the cohanim. The Jerusalem Talmud describes this as a classic proof that it is forbidden to carry out illegal orders that violate the Torah.
In the final analysis it is, of course, easier to be a mouse than a man. Yet, even so, isn't it preferable to be a man? As the Torah itself enjoins us, "In a place where there are no men, strive to be a man."
First off, it is forbidden to implement an anti-democratic policy that has not won the support of the people. By carrying out an order that violates the will of the people, the soldier is destroying the foundations on which the both the nation and army are built. The goal of the army is to carry out the will of the people. When the army is used for personal political objectives, it loses its mandate to act.
A prime minister who was elected on a platform opposing the expulsion plan certainly does not have the right to violate his mandate and demand it be implemented. If the plan is ever brought one day before the people and they are given the chance to vote on it, then, one day, there may be a chance to claim it has a mandate from the people.
However, even had the expulsion won a mandate from the people that would still not have made it legal. Ethnic cleansing is explicitly forbidden by international law. If the majority of Whites in America voted to enslave Blacks, that would not make it legal. Basic human rights can not be violated based on majority votes. A racist policy remains illegal even if it wins popular support.
Forbidding a person to live somewhere just because he is Jewish is prohibited in most countries. Racism is simply not tolerated. It would be a good idea if the Jewish state would adopt the same policy forbidding anti-Semitic discrimination here in the Land of Israel. There is certainly no justification for the current policy forbidding discrimination only against Arabs and allowing discrimination against Jews. At all accounts, it is forbidden for a soldier to carry out a racist order.
It is also forbidden for a soldier to carry out an order which violates the ethical code of the IDF. As is well known, the IDF's ethical code explicitly forbids IDF soldiers using force against civilians. Any force a soldier uses to expel Jews from their homes puts him in direct contradiction of the rules of the IDF. Should a soldier violate IDF law in order to save Ariel Sharon's political career? The IDF was, of course, created to protect Jews and fight their enemies. Should an Israeli soldier be really be used to carry out orders that harm Jews and aid Israel's enemies?
Of course, you could always say you were just following orders. That you were just doing what they told you to do. As if you have no will of your own. Yes, it's certainly sad that Jews would use the same excuse as the Nazis did to justify exterminating the Jewish people. Back then, Jews rightly countered that every human being has free will and one can not absolve himself of responsibility by claiming he is just a cog in a machine. But hey, who wants to go to jail? Better to abandon your values than be punished, right?
Then again, once you start surrendering your values, when do you stop? When will you finally stand up for your rights? When they come to expel your mother and father from their home? When they come to expel your wife and kids? Or even then do you remain silent? Rationalizing the situation is easy. Being brave takes guts.
The IDF itself teaches that a soldier is required to refuse illegal orders. When I was a soldier in the Golani Brigade the example given us was one where illegal orders where given against Arabs, but it seems to me that Jews are also human beings whose basic rights deserve protection. The example given was that of Kfar Kassem. In the 1950s, during a period of fighting, a curfew was put on the Arab village of Kfar Kassem. The local commander ordered the soldiers to shoot anyone who violated the curfew. Several Arabs where killed before the order was cancelled. We Golani soldiers were taught that this was an example where a soldier is required to refuse to carry out orders.
The State's Attorney General himself, Menny Mazuz, last year expressed understanding for refusing army orders. He said a soldier whose conscious does not allow him to carry out certain acts should be sympathized with and not prosecuted by the law. Mazuz was, of course, referring to leftist soldiers who objected to serving in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. But there is no reason why pro-Zionist Israelis should not employ Mazuz' bias in favor of left-wing radicals to support their own convictions.
Last and certainly least, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon himself has said in the past that it is forbidden to carry out orders to destroy Jewish towns. He also said a Jew who is told to carry out an order that goes against his conscious should appear before his commander and tell him he is incapable of carrying it out.
Soldiers must not be scared to refuse illegal orders even if they are threatened with violence or jail. Might does not make right. We must stand up for justice regardless of the cost. Fear of losing positions of honor or salaries does not make perpetrating a crime excusable. There are things in life more important than honor and money. It is to be hoped that Sharon's tyrannical regime will soon fall and those that were brave enough to stand up for what's right will return to their former positions.
They say refusing orders will destroy the army. Yes, the same people who supported or were silent when the radical leftists refused to serve in Judea and Samaria now say it's a terrible crime to refuse orders. Yes, the very same post-Zionists who say we don't need a Jewish state at all and don't even serve in the IDF themselves are suddenly very worried about the condition of army. But isn't it really the opposite? Isn't using the army for political ends against the will of the people what will destroy the army? Won't following illegal, immoral and racist orders destroy the fabric of the IDF?
But above all else, it is forbidden for a Jew to violate the Torah and rebel against God. The Rambam says explicitly that if a king decrees that a Jew must violate the Torah, we don't listen to him. But what does the Rambam know. We are much smarter than him. Besides its better to violate the Torah than go to jail, right?
The Bible is, of course, full of stories of Jews who refused to carry out immoral orders. King David refused to appear before King Saul when ordered to do so because he feared Saul would harm him. Shifra and Puah refused to murder Jewish babies when commanded by Pharoah. Mordechai refused to bow before Haman. The Maccabees refused to bow before idols. Asher and Amsa, the top generals in the Jewish army, refused King Saul's orders to attack the cohanim. The Jerusalem Talmud describes this as a classic proof that it is forbidden to carry out illegal orders that violate the Torah.
In the final analysis it is, of course, easier to be a mouse than a man. Yet, even so, isn't it preferable to be a man? As the Torah itself enjoins us, "In a place where there are no men, strive to be a man."