TacticalMiddleEast

Hippie protesters

JUST RECENTLY, THE press gave stage to another group of loons – this time aged below twenty. 80 high school students signed a letter – addressed to the Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and several notable public figures – saying they are “future draft refusers [sic]” of IDF draft order, stating they would not be “soldiers of occupation”, declaring: “hereby announce that we object to Israel’s oppressive policy in the occupied territories and within the state of Israel, and therefore we will refuse to take part in these activities, which are carried out in our name by the Israel Defense Army”.

I believe I could go long and loud about how retarded the logic of the teens is. While it is obvious the teens are being exploited, in part, by radical Left-wing elements and in part by extremist “Palestinian Rights Groups” and various “peace movements”, it is less obvious why the mainstream media decided to grant such a stage to small liberal assembly on nutcases.

The reasons are twofold: a) many Israeli journalists, reporters and pundits are – as in the United States – centrists to radical liberals. Promoting diehard liberal agenda, promoted by teenagers – as role models to future generations – is a sacred mission for some of them; b) liberal ideology of most current news sources demands “equal exposure” to readers of all agenda. You should read it as: Liberal agenda gets right of way, while conservative and/or Right-wing rhetoric gets swept under the enormous rug.

Thankfully, some news portals (not all of them, and Ynet should be commended for being one of fair and balanced crowd), published another story, of a letter signed by over 500 teen students (most of them from the National-Religious camp), stating they promote joining the IDF as means of protecting their country. The students retorted to the ‘refusniks’ by writing: “we can’t let the voice of one minority change the entire national mood to one big down”. Moreover, the students added that if the “refusers” believe IDF needs to be changed, the way to do just that is to join the Army and promote your vision from within, instead of hiding away from potential dangers. The ‘promoters’ also added that the “refusers” could have joined the National Service – civilian service instead of military one.

The teenage radicals failed the country, forgetting that in order to build a good, moral society – every one needs to chip in his or her own way. If you only care about yourself – you will grow up to be a resentful, bitter old man/woman, holding angry signs at empty streets. If you want change – you actually have to do something. Chickening out is not the way to go.