OP-ED: Warped Moral Logic Leads To Gratuitous IDF Losses In Gaza

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — The copywriter who chose the name “Gideon’s Chariots” for the current IDF offensive in Gaza should be summarily fired. Not because the name doesn’t sound pompous enough, but simply because the biblical Gideon did not employ any chariots, defeating his enemies by using wit and cunning rather than employing cumbersome vehicles.

This oversight does not just silhouette the collosal ignorance of IDF policymakers regarding biblical figures, but also characterizes their abandonment of Jewish values in waging war with genocidal enemies.

Take Beit Hanoun, for instance. The sprawling neighborhood just a few kilometers from Sderot was first attacked by the IDF in its first offensive of the current war – as early as October 2023. During this period the IDF encountered fierce resistance from the Hamas battalions in Beit Hanoun, but by December 18, 2023 the IDF announced “complete control” of the neighborhood. The corollary should have been removal of all civilian elements from the neighborhood and the total destruction of all infrastructure which could assist enemy deployment.

Instead, the IDF left the neighborhood just six days later, prompting new Hamas forces to reenter the neighborhood and fire rockets towards Israel. The pattern repeated itself in other neighborhoods, as the IDF surgically cleared the neighborhoods of terrorists but did not do anything to destroy the infrastructure.

The Torah is very specific about waging wars against a city with both civilians and combatants. The civilians are viewed as supportive of the combatants and thus must suffer the same fate as the soldiers- siege, starvation, surrender. The words “Ad Rid’ta”- meaning “Until it is subdued” implie that almost all means can be used to subdue an enemy besides uprooting the trees which provide food, as this would constitute wanton destruction- Bal Tashchit. Any other form of destruction is legitimate as long as it leads to the enemy surrendering.

No such siege was made on northern Gaza. Civilians were not deprived of food, water and electricity for nearly a year of the war and they mingled among the Hamas terrorists, who themselves never wore uniforms. The upshot was that the IDF was forced to enter Beit Hanoun and all the adjacent neighborhoods time after time, each time leading to gratuitous loss of life and without securing their accomplishments by maintaining presence and eradicating the possibility of reusing the neighborhoods for terror.

In Rafah the IDF finally began to employ a more effective method, emptying the city of its inhabitants and then systematically eroding enemy forces and destroying the entire city. The result is that this is now the safest region in Gaza both for soldiers and for civilians, who flock there to receive food from the Gaza Humanitarian Fund. Hamas has no foothold there, although it routinely ambushes the civilians on their way out, steals their food and even murders them and blames Israel for its “war crimes”.

This should have been done throughout the Gaza strip, but possibly due to fear of hostages in terror tunnels under the neighborhoods, the method has not been employed elsewhere, and the results have been nothing short of tragic, as hundreds of soldiers have died reconquering areas which were already previously in IDF control.

Last week, the Netzach Yehuda battalion (Nahal Haredi) rubbed their eyes in disbelief when they were told they were entering Beit Hanoun. In May last year, they had bravely fought there and four soldiers had been killed in their efforts. Yet they were being asked to go back to the same places, which somehow were still standing, and fight the implacable enemies who had returned there. Unfortunately, during their absence Hamas had once again taken up superior positions in the neighborhood, and five soldiers, including four from Netzach Yehuda, paid with their lives and fourteen more were injured.

This should never have happened. The IDF has artillery, planes, and tractors capable of toppling every building in the region. It could have razed the entire region after conquering it before. Anyone in tunnels underneath would have been forced out or would have perished if no food or water was brought there. The attempt to placate humanitarian demands has cost us dearly, and demonstrates a lack of moral clarity. All civilians have been ordered time after time to leave northern Gaza, and those who return forfeit their lives. No food or water should exist in the region – it should long since have been devoid of any life. Yet Israel continues to allow aid in, fortifying the enemies and emboldening them. This is illogical and also fatal. Gideon would not have acted like this – Gideon would have vanquished both his enemies and their support system, without needing chariots but with the moral vision to prevail and with soldiers who did not bow down to foreign and idolatrous ideologies.