In a blatant act of self promotion I posted a link on Treppenwitz’s site regarding the outposts. It created a bit of controversy (in his comments section, not mine).

I will cross-post my response here and there. You will need to look at his site to understand the response:

Dr. Bean:
1)
What Pollard did was espionage and treason.
Espionage in Israel’s eyes, and treason in the US’s.
Pollard provided us with information vital to our survival.
For us in Israel, Pollard is a hero. Period.
(That the Israeli government hung him out to dry is a disgrace).

Pollard’s punishment is an attempt to teach other US Jews (like Dov Zakheim) to know where their loyalties must unequivocally lie.

In the real world, the US regularly spies on Israel (like the attempt with the snooping submarine we tagged this summer, and regular Sigint eavesdropping). I would hardly be surprised to learn that the US even runs agents inside the IDF and government.
All countries spy on one another.

How Religious American Jews should deal with it, is really their problem.
They belong in Israel and then won’t have face issues of dual loyalty. But that is an Aliyah issue – and not what we are discussing right now.

2a)
Huh!
These kids just saw the IDF they were planning on proudly serving in, rip their friends and families out of their homes, destroy entire Jewish towns, communities, etc., and everything else that has transpired since, such as missile attacks on Ashkelon, the reengaged Gaza NPZ (No People Zone) where the northern Jewish towns in Gaza used to be.

They have zero intention of participating in a repeat act of what they see as so reprehensibly stupid, evil, wrong, [fill in your term here].

For some it is a question of do they go to jail now (when they get called up) or only after they get the order to expel more Jews (which they fully expect to get under a Sharon government).

They are incredibly committed to Israel (or “Zionism” as it used to be called).
They want to serve and protect the People of Israel.
They don’t want to be pawns in an army where the generals consider the expulsion of Jews from their homes to be a successful showcase of the IDF’s power and capabilities (I actually heard an IDF general say that while I was in Gaza).

That they are discussing these things is excellent.

Besides, if someone hates settlers or the religious, then they’re going to hate them anyway, and the extreme left considers all the settlers/religious in the army to be fifth columnists anyway (if they can't be brainwashed properly)!

2b) You must be unaware as to how many secular kids receive exemptions from the army (Mia Buskila withstanding). The numbers are relatively close to the number of Charedi kids who don’t serve. The difference is only in the percent from the population sector. (I'll try to find the numbers.)


3)
I never wrote anything along those lines, so I never actually removed it.

Listening to my Israeli (left) friends who are bigshots in the army, I realize that they have never inculcated and integrated concepts like decisive victory into their thinking. For them, maintaining a relative status quo is victory.

Utterly vanquishing the enemy (or the enemy’s capabilities) is not something they consider. Missiles on Ashkelon or the Golan, “Big deal, it doesn’t really hurt us, we've withstood it for years, and can withstand it for years more if we need to”.

Disproportional response is something they would never do (only threaten).