Between 20 and 30 Israel Defense (‘Occupation‘) Forces infantry troops are refusing to participate in Tuesday‘s planned evacuation of settlers from the Hebron wholesale market.
The soldiers, who are mostly religious troops conscripted in accordance with the Hesder program, informed their commanders that they would not agree to take over positions from Border Police troops in the West Bank, in order to allow the Border Policemen to remove the Hebron settlers.
The soldiers announced their decision after consulting with their rabbis, who instructed them not play any role in the evacuation, including an indirect one.
The soldiers are currently undergoing advanced training, and are employing various methods to avoid replacing the Border Police troops. Some have informed their commanders that they will refuse direct orders, while others have simply managed to receive sick leave. In general, the commanders have been sympathetic to the soldiers, and promised to try to find a way to alter the mission.
Hours later, several dozen ultra-Orthodox soldiers of the Nahal Haredi battalion announced they too would refuse to participate in the evacuation. That announcement appears to be largely symbolic, however, as it is unclear whether they would have actually received orders to participate.
The IOF spokesman‘s office said that they "will act decisively against any signs of soldiers` insubordination. IOF soldiers are not allowed to choose their mission, hard as they may be. Any soldier who refuses to follow orders will be dealt with severely."
Some of the soldier‘s parents visited their children‘s bases in order to show their support. The parents stood outside the entrance of the base, waving signs that said "son, don‘t exile." One of the parents, who is a psychologist, said that his son is in great distress because he is not willing to take part in the removal of the Jewish families. "He enlisted in the army to fight the enemy - Jews are not the enemy," the father said.
The head of Peace Now, Yariv Oppenheimer, said "the army must show zero tolerance to those who refuse to serve in Hebron and not take this matter lightly."
The right-wing group "Women in Green" said that they "support the soldiers who refuse to exile Jews from Hebron".
National Union MK Arye Eldad said he praises the soldiers who refused "to be the executors of an immoral decision tainted with political motives, whose purpose is to exile Jews from their Jewish property."
A few weeks ago, the Yesha Rabbinical Council published a Halacha ruling which prohibits soldiers from taking part in the evacuation of Jews or in actions that prevent Jews from returning to evacuated sites. The ruling was made public prior to the protest march to the evacuated settlement of Homesh in the West Bank.