The following is a guest post from Asher Guedalia. It was originally published in Hebrew and any mistranslations are my fault and mine alone.
Details of the firefight incident in which Haruv Reconnaissance Unit soldier Liam Hazi (of blessed memory) fell today in Jenin:
A Haruv Reconnaissance Unit force was conducting building searches in the refugee camp. As the force entered a building, they encountered two terrorists who had barricaded themselves inside and ambushed the force at close range.
During the gunfight, one IDF soldier was killed, and five other soldiers were wounded—one seriously, three moderately, and one lightly.
And I ask myself: Maybe we could first besiege the refugee camp and clear it with artillery and airstrikes, as any general in any battle throughout history would have done first.
Why is it more moral, instead, to knock on the Hazi family’s door?
Where is this Jenin cycle actually leading? Why are those managing our wars people of little faith and vision—people who want to fight endlessly, rather than believe in defeating and subduing the enemy in a way that strategically improves our position with every operation?
What good are these games, where we keep passing the problem on to the next generation—only in a worse situation?
And why is half the country willing to pay insane prices, protest, and apply pressure when it comes to saving the life of a hostage, but when it comes to protesting the operational strategy—thereby saving the next soldier who will fall in battle—no one seems to care?
