Officers and commanders of Gush Etzion Regional Defense, including the company commander, were removed from their positions due to their objections to the conduct of the brigade commanders. According to residents in the Eastern Gush Etzion, one of those removed was Shlomo Bashan, commander of the Regional Defense company, whom they claim merely sought “to look after their children.”
In a conversation with us, the residents said: “Yesterday Shlomo Bashan, commander of the eastern company, was sent home by the brigade. Why? Because he looked after our children.”
According to them, Bashan refused to fall in line with the brigade command: “Shlomo Bashan – like many fighters and commanders in the field – understands one simple truth. The only thing separating our children and the Middle East is us, the soldiers of the IDF. Not theories, not conceptions, not agreements, not slogans, not hopes and not pretty songs about peace and unicorns. Soldiers. That’s certainly true here at the Herodion Bloc. Certainly in time of war.”
The residents tell of how “from the first days we, soldiers, feel something that someone up there does not understand. They do not understand there is a war in Israel. They do not understand who and what is on the other side. They don’t understand that this is our lives and the lives of our children. Even after Be’eri and Kfar Aza. We are reasonable people. We didn’t come to riot. We didn’t come to let loose. We came to protect. Shlomo Bashan understood this and led us on this path. To do what needs to be done. What healthy logic requires. But somewhere in the brigade command – by our feelings – people sit who lost contact with the field, who look at the world in terms of regulations, who avoid conflict and “unpleasantness,” who don’t understand the need to think big and leave the fence. Bashan understood. He tried to convince the system that it’s shooting sideways. He tried to use every opportunity to strengthen security.”
The residents do not understand why command considers their approach extreme: “The test is really very simple. The question I ask is whether a particular action or person contributes to the security of my children or harms it. Bashan contributed. Those above him – not so clear. More than that, the brigade sometimes harmed that security.”
The residents wouldn’t leave things at the abstract level and gave some examples: “an order to leave personal pistols at home or walk around without a cartridge. Opening the barrier on the road near Maaleh Amos, allowing movement of Palestinians from the Hebron area into ours. Not just that, the company was prohibited from establishing a barrier along the road, even a temporary one. In other words, a main Palestinian road, a meter from the gate of an Israeli settlement.”
The residents continued the litany of issues they have with brigade command: “complete abandonment of the wilderness. Bashan’s effort to establish a military desert patrol and on vital routes from Herodion Bloc eastward was entirely handicapped. Now there is a volunteer civilian patrol, without rifles and sometimes without real communication, which sets out once a day. Alone. Handing over Herodion to the Palestinians. Yes, just like that. The Nature and Parks Authority didn’t want the IDF coming in and the brigade accepted that.”
“Herodion is controlled by a Palestinian guard of the Rashaida tribe, who brings his friends in to drink coffee on the tower. They see every vehicle that moves, including military vehicles. The place was built as a bastion controlling the whole area and is an ancient symbol of Jewish independence and sovereignty. Did you ask yourselves why there’s no flag up there? Or why you never saw a military post up there?” they wonder.
The residents ended by dismissing irrelevant arguments: “This isn’t about commander worship. There may be commanders even more professional than Bashan. But there was a person here who saw all this – and more – and tried to do something, to protect your kids and mine. And as far as the system is concerned, this was cause to send him home.”
IDF: Bashan Acted Against Regulations
The IDF claims that Bashan was removed for a series of actions against orders and regulations, including not following rules of engagement, carrying out engineering activity endangering the residents and without permits, and more. He was warned a number of times and then it was decided to remove him.
