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.
I'm reminded of that anecdote from Wretched of the Earth where a colonial cop who'd been made his department's designated torturer went to Fanon for help because his job was destroying him emotionally. When Fanon advised the cop to quit his job, the cop said that no, he didn't want to quit his job, he wanted Fanon to make him okay with doing his job.
Fanon doesn't say he responded by pushing the cop out of a window, but it would have been entirely warranted.
Tony Soprano energy.