Watching the disengagement unfold in full living colour this week has been a literally shocking experience. It is heart-wrenching! I do however come away from each session shaking my head in disappointment at the behaviour of the outsiders who have come to try and score political points at the expense of our country. Worst of all are the teenagers who have been least able to detect the difference between legitimate opposition and outright revolution.
No doubt there will be no reprimands for most of them from parents or teachers, since they are coming in most part with the blessing, if not in fact outright support, of these people who should know better. They shouldn't be allowed to come away from this with the feeling that they are above the law, and I would like to suggest what seems to be the appropriate consequence of their actions. They should be forbidden from serving in the Israeli army! I think that the normality of army service as a "rite of passage" for all Israeli youth is deeply embedded in our national psyche. For a young man or woman to go through life without the "chavershaft" and experience of service will be a life-long stigma, like carrying a sign that they're not good enough. And they have amply demonstrated this week that they aren't!
