Pinchas Wallerstein, the director-general of the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, announced Monday morning he was leaving his post, in which he has served for over 30 years.
Wallerstein, 60, a resident of Ofra, said he was resigning following criticism leveled at him for condemning insubordination in the IDF. In a letter he sent to the members of the council's secretariat, Wallerstein wrote that "the IDF should not be involved in the politics of evacuation, but soldiers must not hurt the sanctity of the IDF."
The specific incident over which Wallerstein was resigning happened when soldiers from the Shimshon battalion hoisted banners calling not to evacuate settlements, during a swearing-in ceremony at the Western Wall.
Wallerstein immediately condemned the incident, but withdrew his condemnation following pressure from settlers. In his letter from Monday, Wallerstein wrote "already during the discussion on whether to condemn the soldiers or not, I have not heard any member of the secretariat justifying this behavior of the soldiers. Some of us thought it was unworthy to respond, others thought the whole act was childish and stupid and I thought under the circumstances that we should have responded, and tersely. I still think so today."
"It is our duty today to make sure the military isn't involved in the politics of evacuation and demolition, but we must not allow soldiers in uniform take actions which may harm the sanctity of the IDF. It's true that I believe we should not sit idly by while the military and its soldiers are being harmed in any way," he continued.
Wallerstein also criticized the "price tag" policy, according to which when settlers fall victim to terrorism or perceive themselves victimized by the government, they harm Palestinians in a vendetta. "Our silence - for harming our leaders and for the price tag policy - will be harmful to us. It is not a question of tactics, it is an essential stance that views Israel as 'the beginning of our salvation' and therefore any step which harms the country's strength or the IDF, no matter where it comes from, is unforgivable."
