A Response to Matti Friedman at The Free Press

Matti Friedman has written some interesting pieces at the Free Press and other publications over the years but he has some blind spots in his thinking that flip the truth on its head.  For example when he wrote his one sided screed on Israel’s judicial reform way back when, without even giving a hint of the need for a reform of the justice system.  A more non-NY Times like discussion for an American audience would have served TFP readers better.

This time, Matti  Friedman has one-upped himself in an incredibly false account of the last few days in Israel, He does not write explicit falsehoods, but like any good journalist in these post-modern times he decidedly leaves out crucial facts that change the nature of the whole story. 

Let’s start with a little background.  Last week a Nuchba terrorist – those who raped, murdered and beheaded Israelis and others on October 7 was brought to the hospital with signs of being anally raped.  He claimed it was done by soldiers at the Sde Temen camp that holds them.   Without further investigation, the Military Police and the Military Prosecutors identified 9 reservists who were serving as guards as the ones who guarded him.   Instead of opening an investigation starting with the camp commander they decided to send in a team of masked MP’s to arrest them.   Masked arrests are made only for terrorists – not for soldiers, let alone older reservists.

The soldiers  were arrested and taken to a military court in Bet Lid.

Once the news got out thousands of people went to Sde Teman to protest including members of the Knesset.  There were attempts to break into the army base.  When the news reached them that they were being held in Bet Lid – the protests moved there.  There was very little actual fighting with soldiers.  There was no serious violence.  Rumors about the behavior of the MP’s and the prosecutors reached what we thought were absurd levels.

One such rumor was that IDF military prosecutors (cold) called freed Hamas terrorists in Gaza to ask them if they were abused by Israeli soldiers.   Everyone thought this absurd.  But in subsequent testimony at the Knesset Foreign Relations and Security Committee the IDF admitted that they did indeed call them. 

A bit more background – the frustration by a vast majority of the Israeli public over IDF leadership and its treatment of everyone but themselves has reached epidemic levels. The only officers fired since October 7 have been 2 officers who were fired due to US political pressure after the accidental death of the seven aide workers and one intelligence officer (and not just any intelligence officer but the chief intelligence officer of the Southern Command who is running the war in Gaza) who was caught red-handed having an affair, during wartime with a subordinate.  And he was not thrown out of the army but given a different job.

More background -  the violent protests last year against the Judicial reform – where the country’s chief legal officer said that the right to protest means the right to disturb the public order.  There were no arrests for blocking roads, for trying to violently break through barriers to the Prime Minister’s homes, for blocking Knesset members from entering the Knesset… we can go on and on.    Even a woman who bit a police officer was released by the judge because she said she didn’t know it was a police officer.  Apparently biting a civilian is ok.  Incredible, but true. And the army and air force punished no one for refusing to do reserve duty  - something that IAF pilots now admit caused the Air Force not to be ready on October 7.

Further background – a few weeks ago three soldiers were falsely arrested for killing a Nuchba terrorist on October 7.  They were released after mass protests.   The story?  On October 7 one of them, who is a paramedic, went down south with two friends as soon as he heard what was going on.  They treated wounded and kept on going south.  Treated more and then continued further south.  Finally – the police asked them (they were in their private car of course) to transport a prisoner to a certain area where the Army would take care of them.  They did this and left him there – still alive.  The terrorist, wounded already, died there.  That the MP’s and prosecutors felt it necessary to even investigate this death is incredible enough.  To arrest without real evidence is seen by a large part of the public as classic.  And without the public outcry he would probably still be awaiting trial.

I am not justifying the attempt to break into military bases, nor do I wish to see rapists of any sort go free.  But Friedman makes this seem like a general everyday case when it was nothing of the sort.  We have the Chief Military Prosecutor who thinks her job is to serve some abstract law and to serve the Hague – and not to serve the people and the soldiers.   She thinks that investigating the death of an October 7th terrorist caught red-handed is more important than anything else she has to do.  That she was not fired after the incident we just discussed leaves one completely incredulous.  That she is still in her position after ordering the type of arrest she did is a kick in the mouth to all reservists and their families.

Now to Friedman’s article.

“unprecedented scenes of far-right Israelis, including lawmakers from Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition, breaking into two military bases and fighting with soldiers” – there was no real fighting with soldiers.  And the scenes were not “unprecedented” since they happened all of last year.  If not breaking into military bases other government and private buildings were threatened. They were certainly not “far-right “ Israelis.   And the violence of those protests were far greater than anything that went on at Sde Teiman or Bet Lid.

“They were protesting the arrest of nine soldiers on charges of sexually abusing a Hamas suspect at a military prison facility called Sde Teiman”. – they were nine reservists – men who have been called from their families and businesses and lives.  There is a difference in Israel between reservists and regular soldiers.  Friedman knows this.   They are treated differently and given the benefit of the doubt.   There was no evidence besides the claims of a Nuchba terrorist. There was a leak to the press that there is a film of the incident – but that seems to have been false.  It is known that terrorists in Israeli prisons rape each other.   They were protesting also the “how” – the masked MP’s coming to arret them.  This was done for one reason.  For the Military Prosecutors to intimidate not only the reservists who are guarding the Nuchba’s in Sde Teman, but all reservists serving and fighting everywhere – so they know who the real boss is.

“Citizens of the tiny Jewish state facing Iranian proxies on a half-dozen fronts were thus forced to watch Israeli soldiers called away from far more urgent missions to fend off other Israelis with their fists. The army chief of staff himself had to be called away from planning the coming military moves to put things in order.”-  there is no criticism if the IDF Chief of Staff for approving an operation like that?  For approving these investigations with an assumption of guilt and not innocence?   Yes – the IDF Chief of Staff is supposed to serve the people and defend his soldiers – something he has determinedly not done.  That is his job – and if the protests had not happened, he would not have cared that 9 reservists are possibly being falsely accused.   And where is Friedman criticizing the Kaplan gang for their continued violence that calls away police officers from their duties and the likes of Ehud Barak who this past Saturday night called for civil revolt and to strike the entire country?   And which soldiers exactly were “called away from more urgent missions”?  Golani?  I doubt it. Tzanchanim?  Don’t think so. They were soldiers that were already there.  

“The riots at the military prison and courthouse, on the other hand, demonstrated the internal rot that threatens this society as much as any external enemy” – Matti, you know that this “rot” started with the Kaplan protests last year.  The internal rot is not the fault of the “far-right and religious extremists” who are the bogeymen for all of Israeli’s troubles.  The internal rot is from the far-left that has taken over all too many Israeli institutions.  The lack of confidence in these institutions by “the people” is the core of the rot. 

“One wouldn’t think the soldiers’ arrest was a controversial decision given the shocking nature of the charge.” -  One who has not been living in this country since October 7 would not think so.  Do you understand the anger and frustration at, not only the government but the entire security and legal establishment?  No one has faith in these institutions any more and you, like your colleagues are responsible for that since you refuse to report honestly.

“But to the religious extremists who quickly congregated outside the bases and then breached the gates, Israel’s court system and military chain of command are Western perversions that weaken the nation and foil the will of ‘the people,’ meaning them.” – yes, when you run out of arguments you end up blaming “religious extremists”.  They were not the ones angry and protesting.  The frustration we have spoken about is the frustration of the families of all reservists (mine included) who have sacrificed their lives and continue to sacrifice their lives while others (like the Chief Military Prosecutor) think there is no war going on.  It is the wives and children and parents of the reservists – and the aunts and uncles and cousins, too.  

The extended families involved in this war – also in those religious families that Friedman seems to hate so much – reaches most of the country.   The protests are the frustration of the reservists and their families.  Sometimes – in the heat of the passion when one’s children and husbands and wives and cousins are involved and in the heat of the dessert – things get out of hand.  But these are neither “far-right extremists” nor “religious extremists” but these are the families of those sacrificing the most in this most just of wars. 

Friedman tries to portray this as the brilliant intelligence officers vs the ignorant goons.  The ones who work in their offices planning brilliant attacks vs those who are just good enough to sit in the dessert and maybe drive some tanks.  That is not the “whiplash” that the country is undergoing.  The internal rot does not come from the deplorables who send their sons and daughters to die.  Nor does it come from the pilots, naval officers, intelligence officers, logistics sergeants and drivers.   It comes from those who don’t understand what the people – yes “the people” felt during the aftermath of October 7 and today. 

He knows the two most popular songs in the country 6 months ago – those that embarrass the sophisticated gentry in the country but represented both the desire and need to destroy the hated enemy – take revenge on them even, and the undying faith that the people have in the justice of their cause and in their future.   The first is the rap-like violent Charbu Darbu that encapsulates the anger and confidence of all the families of the reservists and regular army. 

The second is Am Yisrael Chai that combines national unity with faith in God and the Jewish people and has become a hit with Jewish schools across the world. 

These are raw, unsophisticated songs that recognized and touched the mood of the country more than any essayist or  politician has.   Both are calls for unity and the protests in support of the reservists are shows of frustration that our leaders do not understand the simple words of simple songs.

The Free Press did a disservice to its readers by printing this one-sided, insulting article.  Let’s hope they add some balance in the future.