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IDF: Israeli Corona Forces
/ צה"ל: צבא הקורונה לישראל
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"T'zva Ha'Karona Le'Yisroel?" *** "Israeli Corona Forces"?
2. What we didn't quote was the blistering critique launched against the Army brass - from within and without - over their reckless disregard of human life, national security, and compliance with the very same basic lifesaving hygiene guidelines the government is requiring of the entire country. Reportedly, the Army had been continuing to draft about 700 to 900 Israelis a day, in the midst of the international and national epidemiologic crisis (according to a mother of a female Army recruit, quoted in Arutz Sheva, March 21). Furthermore, as reported by Arutz Sheva, the Army deems itself exempt from basic Coronavirus infection-control precautions, even denying soldiers the very right to protective gear, reportedly to avoid scaring recruits. Thirdly, and most ominously, IDF General (Res.) Yitzchak Brick, on Facebook, raised the alarm over the tens of thousands of "home front" soldiers return home nightly, after mingling in the military by day without restrictions, thereby advancing the spread of the virus throughout Israeli society (reported in that same Arutz-7 expose). This, courtesy of the same government now greatly curtailing just about everyone else, all in the name of fighting Corona. Currently, the biggest epidemiologic threat to Israeli residents appears to be Army brass themselves, who (perhaps out of subconscious nostalgia for the ill-fated self-esteem of the Yom-Kippur War Labor regime) put the entire country at risk.
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Drafting Girls Continues, Unrelentingly:
3. "Chomosaich" volunteers recently came into contact with an 18 y/o religious girl, Ofek E., who, for technical reasons (apparently somewhat beyond her control), had been switched to a non-religious school. As is recent Army policy, they targeted her for a "Rayon Dat" (often taking the form of a religiosity interrogation), and then a "Shimu'ah" (a "hearing" akin to an indictment, essentially ordering her to enlist in the Army). Her repeated pleas to recognize her religiosity as basis for securing her legal right to an exemption from military service were rejected, and early this week she was ordered to enlist on Sunday, April 5.
Update:
4. After the posting of the first version of this report, we received late word that Ofek's draft date has been deferred a couple of weeks, until after Pesach.
5. This may have been related to the closing of the Jerusalem draft offices this week, due to Coronavirus. It is noteworthy that as recently as last Thursday, the Jerusalem draft offices were open for business.
Ms. Levy is the draft official who bullied the mother of a religious girl simply seeking a religious exemption, Avigail Leah Hausband, in February of '19, threatening:
"I will decide if your daughter is religious. I will profane (or "violate", "achalel et ha'Kerem") "The Vineyard," and I will start with your daughter."
In a subsequent phone conversation with the Lishkas HaGiyus, the office confirmed that the then ongoing effort to draft Avigail - by forcing her into a Rayon Dat - despite her being undeniably religious - was being directed by the very same Keren Levy.
One noteworthy facet of that unforgettable government vendetta was that it was orchestrated in a manner literally placing the life of the mother (who'd been fighting cancer for seven years) at serious risk. The fact that the mother, a Ba'alas Teshuva, served as a captain in the Israeli Air Force didn't insulate her or her family from this ongoing Israeli government hate-crime.
Thank G-d, their attempt to "violate the vineyard" failed. Ultimately, with the assistance of Shalhevet and Shomrei Torah, Avigail took legal action and obtained her religious exemption, without sacrificing her religious principles by submitting to a Rayon Dat.
7. Please daven for Ofek bas Ester, and all of the other girls, both religious girls (like Ziva bas Mazel and Olga Shamilov), as well as other girls, who are still being pursued, duped, harassed, or persecuted by Israeli draft officers.
Perhaps we should also daven that these draft officials immediately experience a massive priority shift, so that they stop chasing teenage girls for their "legal" human-trafficking quotas, in the midst of the Coronavirus epidemic -- and while Israelis are under the threat of some 150,000 rockets being upgraded to become guided-missiles R"L (drastically raising their lethality level; please read the full article at the MEF link below).
8. Note the sheer absurdity of drafting girls, or boys, into the Army in the midst of an unprecedented epidemic, when the Army itself has been outed (by one of their own) as infecting the Israeli population with Coronavirus, via its own soldiers.
9. Also note the sheer wickedness of drafting girls, and even religious girls, in blatant violation of Torah law, and basic human decency - despite the global manifestations of Divine Wrath that we are all currently enduring, to one extent or another. Our Sages warn us that the wicked refuse to repent even at the Gates of Hell. (Infamously, the European experience eloquently testified to that Chazal.)
10. Consider how external threats have not disappeared in the New Corona Order, e.g. see "Iran's New Guided Rocket Kit Is Certain to Raise Tensions with Israel" by Michael Peck, in The National Interest, March 21, 2020 (
https://www.meforum.org/60610/irans-new-guided-rocket-kit). Those who are responsible for allowing the drafting of girls into the military ought be warned that G-d has many ways to exact Justice. We need to daven that we and others not suffer as a result.
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11. The gravest epidemiologic concern right now may be the threat to the viability of the healthcare system, as Netanyahu has so eloquently articulated. How his hawkish posture balances with the recklessness of his own military brass is an interesting question. Perhaps this is yet another small part of his ongoing campaign to posthumously validate the timeless maxim of Rabbi Meir Kahane, HY"D, "Israel
doesn't have an Arab problem -- Israel has a Jewish problem." Instead of shutting down the whole country, perhaps just replacing Army brass may do the trick (as long as the replacement team isn't even more cocky). Or, given current events within the government, perhaps Corona will perform that task for us.
12. What's at the root of this lemming-like recklessness? Perhaps sheer secularist arrogance... "Kochi v'Otzem Yadi." Or perhaps there's another, more calculated agenda afoot.
13. Whatever the reasons, the fact is that Torah observant Jews have an obligation and opportunity to reach out to the broader non-religious Jewish community on this issue, as well as regarding our shared opposition to forcibly drafting girls into the often lawlessly immoral, exploitive military.
14. We need not unite with non-religious Jewry to speak to their concerns. And, remember, it is not the non-religious Jews who pose the primary spiritual and physical threats, it's the core of diehard antireligious Jews that are much of the primary source of our problems.
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15. Regarding the escalating Corona crisis, we suggest circulating the crucial information regarding ventilator alternatives at this link. These low-tech improvised but effective ventilator devices can save many, many lives, globally. (Those with accurate, updated information about their manufacture and distribution are requested to update us.)
Wishing all of our upstanding readers around the world an uplifting and safe Shabbos and Pesach,
