The rioters who attacked IDF soldiers resorted to terror, and terror should be addressed firmly. However, the prime minister declared that these people are not a terrorist organization, thereby showing a leadership failure, to my regret.

In the absence of leadership, we may have to facilitate a confrontation and win it. As the people who ruin us hail from our midst, we must take action. I fear these domestic threats more than I fear the Iranian threat. At this time, we are in the midst of a messianic, delusional process that is violent, belligerent, intolerant, and also un-Jewish.

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We grew up here, we raised children here, and we saw our grandchildren being born; all of them contribute to the state and perform the missions they are tasked with. However, it seems that in a generation or two, we shall be a persecuted minority in a sea of haredim, fanatics, Arabs and parasites. This is not what we were hoping for.

What we have here is not just another political dispute about giving back the territories. This argument is about us and our survival.

I read the words uttered by former IDF Chief Rabbi Avichai Ronsky, who expressed doubt as to his ability to raise his children in such atmosphere. And he lives in Itamar. I disagree with him politically, yet I agree with every word he said.

Grave, chronic disease

While I still served in the IDF, I invited Professor Yeshayahu Leibowitz to address my soldiers in the wake of the Six-Day War . He sounded like a prophet of apocalypse, yet to my regret I can today fully endorse his prophecy, which spoke of three phases to follow that war.

In the first stage, he said, we shall see euphoria, upon our return to our ancient sites. Next, we shall see the emergence of messianic, radical and dangerous nationalism. In the third stage, we shall see Israeli society becoming more brutal and the emergence of a police state.

Seemingly, what we see now is merely an abscess, yet in my view this is in fact a grave, deep and chronically disease. At this time, some say that all we can do now is fight for the patient’s quality of life. There are good people among us as well, yet we no longer determine society’s normative code.

I can say one thing, however – we must utilize real force against all these rioters. The restraint shown by the division commander and his deputy during the latest clashes should be lauded, yet had I been there, and people would have hurled a stone at my head and threatened my life, I would have shot them. Terrorists should be shot.

Uri Saguy, former IDF intelligence chief