Professors for a Strong Israel
Statement to the Press - 4 January 2005
Re: How to prevent refusal of orders
Professors for a Strong Israel does not in general support the refusal of orders in the army, seeing it as a grave threat both to the army and to the state. Nonetheless, an order for ethnic cleansing is obviously an illegal one, that cannot be given or obeyed. The emphasis should be on not giving the order, so that soldiers will not be put in the position of disobeying it. We see two ways to avoid the dangers of refusal:
- If the Prime Minister will reconsider, weighing anew the enormous damage to be inflicted on the the state, on society, on the army, on the economy, and on the values of Zionism and democracy by attempting to carry out his plan; and if he reaches the obvious conclusion that the plan cannot be carried out;
- or if the Chief of Staff makes it clear that he cannot take responsibility for carrying out the plan and risking the immense concomitant damage to the unity of the army; if he tenders his resignation rather than put officers and men in an impossible situation.
Dr. Ron Breiman, Chairman of PSI
Tel: 050-5-518 940