“In a step that seemed inexplicable to many, I left a meaningful job in the security industry a number of months ago. I worked there many years and had many achievements (if I must say so myself). When I announced that I was planning to leave, my superiors tried to convince me to stay.”
The above is part of a letter that I received about a month ago from a senior employee in the military industry. I don’t know if it can be called a phenomenon, but three very senior officials in the military industry have recently joined Zehut – unaware that their colleagues had done the same. They all have a similar explanation – they understood that all the technological achievements are nothing more than a fig leaf to cover the loss of identity and the will to triumph.
“You are tired of substituting justice for technology,” I said to one of them.
“Precisely,” she answered. And since then we have gained her unbeatable energetic professionalism as we prepare for the upcoming elections. I urge you to invest another couple of minutes to read her full letter:
“In a step that seemed inexplicable to many, I left a meaningful job in the security industry a number of months ago. I worked there many years and had many achievements (if I must say so myself). When I announced that I was planning to leave, my superiors tried to convince me to stay.
I wish that I could have fulfilled their request. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t take it anymore.
Those who know me know that for me, my work was a labor of love. Throughout the years, I was simultaneously proud and grateful that I merited to take part in the mutual effort and to contribute – even if just a bit – to the security of the State that I love so much. I felt that my work was truly beneficial and significant.
That feeling began to crack in the year or two before I left, as I was exposed to the phenomenon of military officers fighting their soldiers (Elor Azaryah was just one example) but hesitant in the face of their enemies. I saw that minimizing harm to uninvolved bystanders was above and beyond everything else. I saw how the word “victory” disappeared from the IDF’s combat lexicon. I saw how the culture of falsehood conquered goodness. I saw how they silence people whose opinions were “too combative”. I saw how the decision makers (at the diplomatic level) authorized endless investment in technological measures and emergency supplies so as not to make define more rigid parameters for the length and level of military engagement. I understood that something is very wrong, because money cannot cover up the lack of spirit and absence of belief in the justice of our cause.
Because I could not influence these trends, but did not want to be part of the deception, I left.
And now I read what Colonel Lior Mednes wrote and pray that his words will fall on listening ears. That something will change. For that to happen, we need change at a deep level. Not just at the military level, but perhaps mainly at the levels above the military. Is it still possible?
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