Far from being “invincible,” the IDF’s morale is broken. Snip:
After a year of committing genocide in Gaza, more and more Israeli soldiers are quietly refusing orders to return to the strip to fight, saying they are depressed, worn out, psychologically damaged, and unmotivated, according to a report by Ha-Makom magazine published on 20 October.
The ultra-Orthodox-oriented magazine interviewed multiple soldiers and parents of soldiers who refuse to return to Gaza. When a platoon of 30 soldiers of the Nahal Brigade was recently ordered to enter Gaza for the latest of several tours, only six reported for duty.
“I call it refusal and rebellion,” says Inbal, the mother of one of the soldiers in the platoon.
“They return to the same buildings that they cleaned, each time trapping them anew. They have been to Al-Zaytoun neighborhood three times already. They understand that it is futile and pointless.”
Although they had only a fifth of their personnel, the commander still insisted they enter Gaza.
Maybe this is a bit irrelevant, but do you ever think of the Red Army seeing the absolutely vile atrocities the Nazis were doing, and how they found the will to keep going to stop them at all costs? I wonder if it’s more demoralizing than not, I can only imagine that finding death camps with piles of childrens’ clothing with their owners nowhere to be found has to really make you feel like any semblance of good in the world you’re fighting for has already been lost.
And I guess it’s just crazy that the Zionists are fighting to create that world, to create a world where the most defenseless are thrown to the mass graves and forgotten. How have they found the will to make it this far? How can fascist ideology push people to do as much harm as they’ve already done without putting a bullet through their CO’s skull and then their own? Isn’t it too much after you kill the second or third kid?
For the last 80 years they’ve been told that the people they’re killing aren’t human beings. At a point they check out and are okay with it.
I can see it giving me nightmares, PTSD, etc. But personally, this really would strengthen my resolve to keep going, the knowledge that these atrocities are out there and we can stop it by continuing to march, that’s a good reason.
All said, it’d still be a heavy burden on the mind, which can leave one acting irrationally after too long.