Peace Activists Picnic Yesterday

Ok, heading for a political overdose, I can see that. Two posts at the same day and both political… Help!

Actually, this one is kind of news reporting too. Israeli peace activist known online as IbnEzra posted on Twitter yesterday that he was off to a picnic. I confess, my first thought was: “How nice, that this nice guy finally finds the time to relax and get to the beach or a nice shaded forest.” I tweeted back, reminding him to keep to shaded areas and wear sunsreen, or something along those lines.

Of course, this member of Ta’ayush, wasn’t headed for the beach. Instead, along with his friends, he went to a picnic at an illegal outpost set up next to a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. They captured the event in a video and posted it, so I can re-post it here. Well worth a watch, and should definitely come before my comments, so here goes:

First, I think Ta’ayush is made up of some very fine people. I don’t agree with everything that they do, or with every one of their calls to action, so I’m afraid you won’t be seeing me on these movies anytime soon. That said, I think they’re doing very important work, and I really do appreciate that.

As for the incident in this movie, I have to say, I was afraid of how the IDF would react to this form of protest and was pleasantly surprised. That nice major in charge there was never abusive or violent. It may very well be that he would have liked nothing more than kicking the settlers out of their illegal outpost, but he was being professional and as far as I could see, never expressed his political views.

He does have his orders, coming directly from the government, in this case. They are not what we call “explicitly illegal” orders, so he follows them. With all due respect and appreciation to Ta’ayush, I would have done the same. He even remained neutral and polite through out.  He was told to make sure there are no people in the area, and he, IMO fairly politely and gently, removed them. I can only hope that Palestinians would have been treated with the same kid gloves.

Now, I realize some people would think that the officer and his soldiers should refuse to carry out their orders. (And please, please, spare me any comparisons of “just following orders” either). However, keep in mind that on the other side of the political system we have people who thought soldiers should have refused to carry out the order to evacuate Gaza from Jewish settlers.

I was proud of the IDF for the way they carried out those Jewish settlers out of Gaza, but if you want them to do that, you have to expect them to do the same thing to left-wing protesters. In fact, with the current shift in political climate in Israel, I think it would be best for whatever is left of the Israeli left, to expect soldiers to obey orders rather than, God forbid, to each follow their own personal views.

To sum this up, I think it was a good protest, and a good response by the IDF. I am spreading the word out in my blog about the important work of Ta’ayush and thank them and the soldiers for keeping one more political incident non-violent. It’s a sign of a strong democracy, in my book.

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