Three days ago, the Hizbullah terrorist group in Lebanon killed an Israeli soldier, Elad Litvak, in a cross-border missile attack on an Israeli tank. A day later, the Israeli security cabinet voted 11-2 to respond with an aerial attack on a Syrian radar installation in Lebanon. The aim of this attack was to begin hitting Syria - the state sponsor of Hizbullah terrorism - with Israel's response. The attack was carried out Sunday night, killing three Syrian soldiers at the site.
On Monday, reactions came in from the Israeli left and right. To a person, the reactions were positive. Even Meretz's Yossi Sarid could find only words of praise for the decision, claiming that the action was necessary for Israel's national security.
The two ministers who voted against the decision, Peres and Ephraim Sneh, claimed that the attack would jeopardize the expected visit the following day of Jordan's foreign minister for meetings in Jerusalem. That was their entire reasoning.
So here we have Peres, long known far and wide as a jet-setter who hobnobs with the aristocrats of the world, claiming that such hobnobbing is more important than re-asserting Israel's deterrent capability to protect its soldiers - a capability that has been seriously eroded by Peres's pet project, the Oslo Process.
Perhaps this is understandable. After all, Peres never served in the IDF, and does not know what it is to be a soldier. He has made a life of hobnobbing with little understanding of the effects of his missions or statements. What is more inexplicable is Sneh's vote. Here, after all, is a man who achieved high rank in the IDF, who has served as deputy defense minister, and who should have a deep understanding of the importance to Israel of each and every soldier.
What I see in these votes is the continuation of a disturbing trend to dilute Israel of the values and heroism upon which the country was built. There was a time when there would have been no question that rescuing a wounded soldier in the field was of the utmost importance, overriding even strategic battleground considerations.
Six months ago, we saw a soldier bleed to death while the IDF mounted a weak and futile attempt to rescue him from Joseph's Tomb. Now, when we finally have a government intent on re-instituting firm Israeli values, Peres and Sneh must vote against in deference to the ultimately inconsequential visit of a foreign diplomat.
As if to prove Peres and Sneh wrong, Jordan's foreign minister did visit Israel the following day, where he presented a suggestion that had already been dismissed by both sides to the conflict. That, to Peres and Sneh, was more important than Syrian respect for Israeli life.
If the Sharon government is to succeed in its plan to resuscitate Israeli values, it will be done without the assistance of Peres and Sneh. And it will be much more easily accomplished the further away Peres and Sneh are from any decisions that are taken.
Copyright 2001. Yehuda Poch is a writer living in Israel. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission only.
