The soldier, Sgt. Yosef Pilent, has lived in Yitzhar for most for most of his life since immigrating to Israel with his family from the U.S., and is now serving in an army unit stationed in Yitzhar. Released on furlough for a few days, he arrived home on Monday only to see his unit destroying two trailer homes (caravans) in the outlying Yitzhar neighborhood of Givat Lehavah. Adding insult to injury, his brother and his fiancee were considering moving into one of the caravans after their wedding this coming April.
Sgt. Pilent made a quick and instinctive decision, and called upon his comrades to refuse to participate in the destruction – even as they attempted to drag him away and continue the destruction. He was arrested and put on trial the next day.
Pilent refused an offer to be tried by his own commander, opting for a court-martial in which he planned on making the case that the expulsion order was an illegal order. During the speedy trial, however, he was not given the opportunity to make his case before being sentenced to 28 days in an IDF prison for “behavior not befitting a soldier.”
"They originally wanted to charge me with refusing orders," he said, "but when I told them that I had not received any orders, they changed it to 'unbefitting behavior.' Their main goal is to use me as a scapegoat and put me in jail."
St.-Sgt. Pilent’s lawyer, Shai Galili, said the IDF broke all the rules of military legal procedure in handing down the verdict: “The judging officer made a serious infraction, using his authority to convict and sentence a soldier without even allowing him the opportunity to respond to the charges against him. If the IDF Chief Prosecutor Brig.-Gen. Avi Mandelblit doesn’t immediately nullify the verdict, we will certainly bring it to the Supreme Court.”
Galili told Army Radio that Pilent acted in a moral manner in accordance with military law: “There is an explicit decision by Israel’s Supreme Court, that every soldier who is unsure of the legality of an order is obligated to to carefully consider whether it is legal or illegal - and if it is illegal, to refuse it.”
Many Yitzhar residents said that the entire situation could have been avoided had the army informed them in advance that it wanted the caravans moved. "But the Prime Minister wanted the country to see these scenes of violence between soldiers and settlers, as a way of de-legitimizing us," Yehuda Libman said.
He added that the government put Sgt. Pilent, as well as the army, in an absolutely impossible situation: "It was simply an attempt to pick a fight with us. These are two caravans that we put here two months ago as part of the natural growth of a normal, 9-year-old neighborhood in Yitzhar. No one ever warned us that they were unacceptable. If they had, we could have come to an agreement; we could have moved them to a better spot. But they came suddenly, with no warning and no dialogue and swooped down to destroy them."
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Wednesday he wants to see harsher measures taken against Jews who physically oppose the destruction of homes in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. “In the coming days, we will discuss the legal repercussions of the events at Yitzhar,” Sharon told a group of soldiers who took part in the destruction of the two homes. “The call to refusal can lead to a historic rift in the entire Jewish world, and not only in Israel. Whoever calls to refuse or to oppose with force and violence is wrong, mistaken and is endangering our very existence in this place. We must all avoid this at any price, and therefore, there will be no compromise on this matter. Whoever raises his hand to a soldier or police officer or member of the security forces, whoever organizes refusal, and whoever threatens it - we will act against him forcefully.”
The Prime Minister’s words contrast starkly with statements he made in July 1995 when he spoke out against the Labor government's plan to remove army bases from Judea, Samaria and Gaza (Yesha). Speaking with Arutz-7 radio, heard on airwaves throughout Israel before the government shut it down just over a year ago, he said, "As someone who has served in the IDF many years, I say that a soldier must follow orders, and if a soldier feels that an order given him is against his conscience, he personally - and I emphasize 'personally' - must stand before his commander, explain this to him and be prepared to accept the consequences."
Even more telling is the fact that Sharon himself said it is the government's responsibility to avoid bringing events to a head. In the same interview, he said, "I believe that in everything that concerns the crossing of red lines, the responsibility for this is the government's, and it must prevent situations of red lines... This government [headed by Yitzchak Rabin] must realize that when it talks about majority rule, this is also a crude distortion. Democracy cannot be a tyranny of the majority. They can't just do whatever they want - certainly when we are talking about matters that will determine our fate."
Sharon, in his meeting yesterday with the soldiers who were ordered to destroy the caravans, went to great pains to contrast them with the settlers: "I wanted to meet with you following the difficult scenes we saw in the evacuation of the illegal outpost. In the name of the entire nation, I say thank you. This was not the mission for which you trained, but it is the mission that you were ordered to do, and it must be carried out, for the sake of the security of all of us..."
The Prime Minister continued, "I heard the epithets against you. Don't take them personally. They were directed against the government and against me. I call on all those who [want to refuse orders]: Leave the army! If you want to curse and protest, do so against me, not against the army. Leave the army out of this."
Many right-wing figures, such as MK Brig.-Gen. (res.) Effie Eitam of the NRP, have made the same request of the Prime Minister, saying that the army should not be ordered to evacuate and grapple with citizens. "Leave the army out of this," Eitam has said.
Sgt. Pilent made a quick and instinctive decision, and called upon his comrades to refuse to participate in the destruction – even as they attempted to drag him away and continue the destruction. He was arrested and put on trial the next day.
Pilent refused an offer to be tried by his own commander, opting for a court-martial in which he planned on making the case that the expulsion order was an illegal order. During the speedy trial, however, he was not given the opportunity to make his case before being sentenced to 28 days in an IDF prison for “behavior not befitting a soldier.”
"They originally wanted to charge me with refusing orders," he said, "but when I told them that I had not received any orders, they changed it to 'unbefitting behavior.' Their main goal is to use me as a scapegoat and put me in jail."
St.-Sgt. Pilent’s lawyer, Shai Galili, said the IDF broke all the rules of military legal procedure in handing down the verdict: “The judging officer made a serious infraction, using his authority to convict and sentence a soldier without even allowing him the opportunity to respond to the charges against him. If the IDF Chief Prosecutor Brig.-Gen. Avi Mandelblit doesn’t immediately nullify the verdict, we will certainly bring it to the Supreme Court.”
Galili told Army Radio that Pilent acted in a moral manner in accordance with military law: “There is an explicit decision by Israel’s Supreme Court, that every soldier who is unsure of the legality of an order is obligated to to carefully consider whether it is legal or illegal - and if it is illegal, to refuse it.”
Many Yitzhar residents said that the entire situation could have been avoided had the army informed them in advance that it wanted the caravans moved. "But the Prime Minister wanted the country to see these scenes of violence between soldiers and settlers, as a way of de-legitimizing us," Yehuda Libman said.
He added that the government put Sgt. Pilent, as well as the army, in an absolutely impossible situation: "It was simply an attempt to pick a fight with us. These are two caravans that we put here two months ago as part of the natural growth of a normal, 9-year-old neighborhood in Yitzhar. No one ever warned us that they were unacceptable. If they had, we could have come to an agreement; we could have moved them to a better spot. But they came suddenly, with no warning and no dialogue and swooped down to destroy them."
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Wednesday he wants to see harsher measures taken against Jews who physically oppose the destruction of homes in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. “In the coming days, we will discuss the legal repercussions of the events at Yitzhar,” Sharon told a group of soldiers who took part in the destruction of the two homes. “The call to refusal can lead to a historic rift in the entire Jewish world, and not only in Israel. Whoever calls to refuse or to oppose with force and violence is wrong, mistaken and is endangering our very existence in this place. We must all avoid this at any price, and therefore, there will be no compromise on this matter. Whoever raises his hand to a soldier or police officer or member of the security forces, whoever organizes refusal, and whoever threatens it - we will act against him forcefully.”
The Prime Minister’s words contrast starkly with statements he made in July 1995 when he spoke out against the Labor government's plan to remove army bases from Judea, Samaria and Gaza (Yesha). Speaking with Arutz-7 radio, heard on airwaves throughout Israel before the government shut it down just over a year ago, he said, "As someone who has served in the IDF many years, I say that a soldier must follow orders, and if a soldier feels that an order given him is against his conscience, he personally - and I emphasize 'personally' - must stand before his commander, explain this to him and be prepared to accept the consequences."
Even more telling is the fact that Sharon himself said it is the government's responsibility to avoid bringing events to a head. In the same interview, he said, "I believe that in everything that concerns the crossing of red lines, the responsibility for this is the government's, and it must prevent situations of red lines... This government [headed by Yitzchak Rabin] must realize that when it talks about majority rule, this is also a crude distortion. Democracy cannot be a tyranny of the majority. They can't just do whatever they want - certainly when we are talking about matters that will determine our fate."
Sharon, in his meeting yesterday with the soldiers who were ordered to destroy the caravans, went to great pains to contrast them with the settlers: "I wanted to meet with you following the difficult scenes we saw in the evacuation of the illegal outpost. In the name of the entire nation, I say thank you. This was not the mission for which you trained, but it is the mission that you were ordered to do, and it must be carried out, for the sake of the security of all of us..."
The Prime Minister continued, "I heard the epithets against you. Don't take them personally. They were directed against the government and against me. I call on all those who [want to refuse orders]: Leave the army! If you want to curse and protest, do so against me, not against the army. Leave the army out of this."
Many right-wing figures, such as MK Brig.-Gen. (res.) Effie Eitam of the NRP, have made the same request of the Prime Minister, saying that the army should not be ordered to evacuate and grapple with citizens. "Leave the army out of this," Eitam has said.