By JPOST.COM STAFF
Some 200 pre-enlistment youths sent Defense Minister Ehud Barak a letter on Thursday morning in which they blamed the former chief of staff for endangering the IDF by using it for "political ends and warfare against Jews," and declared they would not take part in the evacuation of any form of Jewish settlement, an act they consider an unacceptable violation of Torah dictate.
"We are students before enlistment in the IDF, who want to join the army and fight for the security of the people of Israel in their land," the letter reads. "We consider utilizing the army for political ends and for warfare against Jews an existential danger and a destruction of the military, especially when it includes a severe transgression of the mitzvah of settling the land [of Israel].
"We pledge that our loyalty to the Torah precedes any law or order, and therefore we will refuse to execute any order that contradicts the Torah, and will not take part in the evacuation of any outpost or settlement in the land of Israel, and thus also guarding the true values of the IDF," they wrote.
Barak recently announced his decision to remove the Har Bracha yeshiva from the hesder roster, in response to the institute's head Rabbi Eliezer Melamed refusal to speak out against insubordination in the army.
An IDF document showing that that the military planned to use "paralyzing power" to demolish illegal settler construction where building has continued in defiance of the 10-month freeze on such activity was recently exposed, raising criticism for what appears to be an intention to involve the army in reinforcing what is a political decision among Israeli citizens.
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