Last week, the IDF’s Central Front commander, General Avi Bluth, issued a strong, condemnation of what he described as acts of terrorism committed by Jewish “anarchists”. Coming from him, such one sided criticism of our people’s reaction to Arab terror is not surprising. After all, he authorized the army to destroy Jewish outposts just before Shabbat so the residents wouldn’t be able to prepare for their evictions.
But before addressing this matter of settler “vigilantism”, I’d like to point out that our current activist anti terrorist policy in Judea and Samaria, which is overseen by General Avi Bluth, is a perfect example of what I’ve called “mowing the grass”. It’s been an unmitigated failure in the past, as overseen by his predecessors, and despite his current crackdowns on terrorists, is shaping up to be a failure today. The consequences of the army’s refusal to recognize this fact can only be described as criminal.
Everyone has pretty much accepted the fact that a widespread Arab terror campaign is coming. This Iranian-;directed onslaught has the potential of causing more Jewish casualties on both sides of the Green Line than what we suffered on October 7. So, when this mayhem occurs, nobody in the army or security services can claim to have been surprised or caught off guard like they did on October 7.
Yet, in spite of this fact, the army has not initiated a decisive counter terror campaign that would involve both the destruction of enemy held cities, as well as the wholesale transfer of the enemy population residing in Judea and Samaria. Instead, the army has continued to employ periodic commando raids designed to capture certain terrorist leaders, who are promptly replaced by others. The IDF has also begun multi divisional exercises intended to prepare our troops for the day when the Arabs finally decide to initiate their wide scale attack.
The obvious problem with the army’s approach is that it is based on a retaliatory doctrine and not on a proactive one that seeks to eliminate the enemy BEFORE they strike. What this means is that the army is yielding the initiative to the Arabs, which will result in countless Jewish deaths both within all of Israel. Our plan, in other words, is yet another “misconceptzia” that will end in disaster. Granted, we have very effective alternative courses of action which, if implemented, would result in a decisive IDF victory at very little cost to either our soldiers or civilians. But, unfortunately, neither our political leaders nor our High Command is willing to authorize them. And because of this systemic failure on our part to do what is necessary to prevent this expected Arab onslaught, there will be a river of Jewish blood as a result.
Now, as far as the incidents of Jewish vigilantism are concerned (although it is not clear yet who they are, ed.), while I don’t condone such actions, I thoroughly understand them. You can’t expect our people to just sit back and wait for the sword to fall on their communities without doing something to protect themselves.
And what, exactly, are our people responding to? Anyone reading our media would know the answer: near daily stonings, lynchings, shootings, stabbings, car rammings and the burning of our agricultural lands that the army, under General Bluth, has categorically refused to act in ways that will bring it to a stop. For example, when you have a mob of Arabs pouring out of a village bent on lynching some Jewish farmers, the army should promptly destroy the Arab village and deport its inhabitants to some place like Syria- not arrest the Jewish farmers for using their weapons in self defense! So, as far as I’m concerned, the acts of Jewish vigilantism, which General Bluth decries, are actually the result of the failure to conduct an effective enough proactive anti terror policy.
Clearly, it’s time for things to change. Perhaps Bluth can be replaced by a real Jewish warrior like General Winter, who can implement a new preventive anti terror campaign against our enemies. This would require our government to officially cancel Oslo, eliminate the P.A., declare sovereignty over Judea and Samaria and commence the wholesale transfer of the Arab occupiers residing there to Syria.
To some this may seem like a radical plan. But it’s not! It’s simply something that should have been done decades ago