The scenario in question should not have been drilled and was an error,” said IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi.
By JNS 7 February 2024
IDF Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fox speaks during his swearing-in ceremony at Central Command headquarters in Jerusalem, Aug. 11, 2021/ Flash90.
The Israel Defense Forces’ top brass issued an apology on Tuesday for a military training exercise that included a scenario simulating the kidnapping of Palestinian Arabs by Jewish residents of Samaria.
“The scenario in question should not have been drilled and was an error,” IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi acknowledged during a visit to troops fighting Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
“In Judea and Samaria, forces face brutal terrorism in a complex environment. The exercise carried out yesterday was designed to prepare the forces to deal with a wide variety of scenarios, with the aim of improving their readiness,” he explained.
“We are sorry to anyone who was hurt by this,” Halevi added, vowing to “investigate and learn.” He stressed that soldiers under the IDF’s Central Command, led by Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fox, “work around the clock while risking their lives for the security of the residents.”
The apology came shortly after reservists who participated in the drill published a letter accusing the IDF of using them in a “cynical and despicable” way and demanding that the “person responsible for this in Central Command” be removed from his post.
Earlier on Tuesday, Judea and Samaria leaders issued a statement calling for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to “discharge the person who wrote the exercise that simulates the kidnapping of a Palestinian by an Israeli.”
Netanyahu subsequently ordered the IDF to probe the matter. “This fictitious scenario is disconnected from reality, inappropriate and does injustice to an entire and precious community,” said the premier.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said that the military officials who ordered the drill portraying “the settlers as the enemy and the Palestinians as the victim suffer from a severe moral blindness.”
In an interview with Army Radio, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich claimed the exercise evoked memories of antisemitic blood libels.
“There has never been a case of a settler abducting an Arab child. It’s a bit reminiscent of the blood libels that alleged that Christian children were taken and slaughtered to make matzah. There has never been a case of abduction like that,” Smotrich charged.
“We appreciate the clear and important statement of the chief of staff,” responded Israel Ganz, head of the Binyamin Regional Council, which administers some 50 communities in Judea and Samaria. He noted that “Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fox also joined the apology.
“To paint the settlers as an aggressive force that the IDF must prepare against as part of its preparedness for war is a delusional act that harmed the image of the settlement and the country,” Ganz stated.
In a conversation with council leaders and local officials on Tuesday, Fox apologized to “anyone who was harmed,” Israel Hayom reported.
“Our mission is to protect the residents, and that is what we are preoccupied with. We made a mistake; we will investigate, learn, draw lessons and do better soon,” the general reportedly said.
Since being appointed to his position in 2021, Fox has regularly been criticized by right-wing activists and politicians.
In July, Israel Hayom claimed that Fox had been unilaterally undercutting government policy by cutting down the number of forces allocated to the enforcement of Palestinian construction violations.
In the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks, activists formed a protest group in response to Fox’s decision to green-light Palestinian olive harvesting close to Israeli communities in the area, even after several Palestinians were caught observing the communities’ security measures.
In addition, Fox has repeatedly refused government and public appeals to restore checkpoints and roadblocks near Palestinian terror hotspots in the Jordan Valley and northern Samaria, critics have charged.
Ok, thanks for clarifying this matter Peloni, and I totally agree with you that the exercise was an outrage and all involved should be fired.
@Laura
@Honeybee
The military conducted a training exercise based around a scenario which provided the hypothetical condition that the Jews of J&S perpetrated their own October 7 on the Arabs. As Sebastien and others have noted, there is no basis in reality for such training to be pursued. The refusal of many of those involved in the training to take part was the only heartening element of the entire enterprise, and I would suggest that those who refused to take part in such kabuki theater support of blood libels against Israel should be marked for advancement in the ranks while those who authorized this training mission should be summarily and immediately dismissed as I noted before.
Another factor which made this matter even worse is that the faux apologies were only offered after Bibi agreed to investigate the basis for pursuing this blood libel scenario during training, indicating that Fox and Hagadi expected that this matter would be dropped altogether, as Gantz demonstrated quite clearly was what he desired as well. Hence, I am further strengthened by Bibi’s recognition of and public outrage over the implications of a training exercise which places the IDF against the Jews of Judea and Samaria as a potential threat to be eliminated.
The use of Israel’s own military to foment support for the suggestion that ‘Settler violence’ is an actual threat to the Arabs is both disgusting and unacceptable. Furthermore, it demonstrates that the pre-October 7 military leaders are still tied to the pre-October 7 concepts which actually made October 7 possible, thus establishing the fact that the reforms needed to make Israel safe from its enemies should not wait for the long off end of the war. Changes must be made to make the nation safe and I strongly suggest that the first of those changes should begin with the immediate termination of Maj. Gen. Fox.
I’m confused by this comment, Peloni. What exactly do you think is the outrage.
Nothing to apologize for. Enough already trying to please those who hate you anyway. Let them think what they want. Better to be ruthless and feared than weak and still hated anyway.
Why are Jews always apologizing ??
This story is so unnerving that I didn’t believe its veracity the first time it was reported. The apologies being offered for these outrages are, however, not enough. Heads must role for promoting this anti-Israel propaganda at a time of war, when many of those being maligned by this blood libel are in fact dying on the front lines in Gaza for their country’s survival. It is not even enough to accept the resignations of those involved, but this should be the most basic action taken at this time pending a full, INDEPENDENT inquiry to determine the true intent of this outrage. Fox at a minimum should go!
The headline is misleading. It’s not the simulation of kidnapping Arabs that needed the apology but the blood libel against Jews who have never done that.
However, while we are on the topic, I have to say, it makes more sense for the Mossad or some other secret agency to quietly and with plausible deniability kidnap high value targets abroad and behind the scenes offer to return them in exchange for the hostages then to release any of these monsters ever under any circumstances which would just pave the way for the next Oct. 7th the way the Gilad Shilad hostage exchange did. Legal niceties only strangles Israel facing enemies who don’t observe them. Human rights in war should be a quid pro quo like any other contract as it mostly was prior to the late 1940s.
Or even better, make some kind of deal with an ally under the table to do it in exchange for some other favor the way Iran and Pakistan reportedly each attacked each other’s Balochi communities using some third party terrorist group like Al Qaeda as a fall guy at the request of China which is finding its belt and road construction projects hampered by Balochi attacks, each thus killing several birds with one stone.
Or use some kind of blackmail triple cross behind the scenes to get Qatar or other parties to apply direct and indirect pressure where it counts.
They should read John Loftus, “The Secret War Against the Jews: how Western Intelligence betrayed the Jewish people” for ideas. 😀
and
“Gangsters vs. Nazis
How the Jewish mob fought American admirers of the Third Reich”
BY
ROBERT ROCKAWAY
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/gangsters-vs-nazis
“Rockaway baby on the tree top, When the wind blows the cradle will rock, When the bough breaks the cradle will fall, And down will come baby, cradle and all.”
Excerpt: “…American Jews were intimidated and frightened. Fearful of stirring up even more anti-Jewish sentiment, the American Jewish establishment’s response was often tentative and cautionary. They worried that what happened in Germany, home to Europe’s elite Jewish community, could easily happen in America. Nathan Perlman, a judge and former Republican congressman, was one Jewish leader who believed that the Jews should demonstrate more militancy. In 1935, he surreptitiously contacted Meyer Lansky, a leading organized crime figure born on the 4th of July, and asked him to help. Lansky related to me what followed…”
Common sense espionage.
Jeez, do I have to tell them everything? 😀
They need to read more spy novels.
(Though it would be good to avoid another kind of Iran/Contra broo ha ha.)