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Yachimovich Blasts Intel Objectors as Leaders Praise Unit

On her Facebook page yesterday, opposition MK Shelly Yachimovich blasted the the reservists from the IDF’s elite unit 8200 who wrote a letter last week that “expressed their refusal to take part in any action designed to ‘harm the Palestinian population’ in the West Bank and Gaza.”

The Times of Israel reports:

“Why didn’t you refuse at the time of truth? You would have refused, been judged, been dismissed from the unit, paid a price and lived at peace with your conscience,” she said in a statement posted to Facebook.

Recalling the case of a lieutenant from Unit 8200 who refused an order and was dismissed she said, “Why did you follow him? How convenient when you are already a citizen to paint the narrative that you wouldn’t dare in the army… Cowards.”

Yachimovich emphasized  (Hebrew link) that the training the reservists received in unit 8200 allowed them generous opportunities, and that they did not act on principle or risk their privileged status in society.

You were discharged from the army armed with knowledge and experience you couldn’t have obtained in any university in the world, a marketplace that welcomed you with open arms and a starting salary that most citizens of the state can only dream about. This is not a reason to feel good and deserving more. Just the opposite. It is a reason to be grateful. …

You have slandered your friends in the unit needlessly. Over the Sabbath, I spoke with several of them, people no less moral than you are. The feel contempt and anger towards you. They said to me, “If they participated in such unusual and disgusting activity … why did you not stop this in real time? …

You emphasize the you have no problem (serving) in other arenas and that you are not prepared to serve in the Palestinian arena. What are you saying? The next time you received a call up notice for reserve duty (and I hope this doesn’t happen) perhaps they will give you a place on the form that you can check which places you are willing to serve with great dedication. Syria? Perhaps. Al Qaeda? Cool. Iran? That would be okay. Palestinians? Not appropriate. Why? From where, exactly, did the attacks come that spilled Israeli blood over the past twenty years? From Iraq? Should there be no more SIGINT (signal intelligence) in the Palestinian arena because you’re concerned about the privacy of the Palestinians?

Last week, opposition leader and  Labor Party Chairman Isaac Herzog, who had served as an officer in the unit, criticized the letter too:

Herzog, who served as a major in the elite Unit 8200 himself, wrote that the unit’s activities were “vital not only in wartime but mainly in peacetime. When one speaks of a political arrangement and setting borders, one speaks about early warning stations and intelligence capabilities to locate and stop extremist forces that would do anything to damage peace.”

According to Herzog, though mistakes have been made, there is a right way to complain and launch a discussion, and it’s not “by encouraging and calling for insubordination, or with a damaging publication abroad, the price of which we, Israeli citizens, will pay.”

Ynet reports that in response to the letter, both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon praised the work of 8200.

Netanyahu did not comment directly on the letter, but wrote on his Facebook page “The citizens of Israel owe you a great thank you (to 8200) for your professional and dedicated service to state of Israel. Keep up the good work!”

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon took a more direct stand, and said that the unit does “God’s work” and claimed those calling on soldiers to refuse are aiding anti-Israeli forces around the world.

“I know Unit 8200 from my time as head of Military Intelligence and know the massive extent which their efforts play in Israel’s security. The soldiers and officers there are doing God’s work, night and day. 8200 preserves Israel’s existence.

[Photo: Presidential Conf / YouTube ]