Excerpts from Dr Israel Eldad by Shifra Shomron

Israeli Restraint Forces

Excerpts from Dr Israel Eldad's article, "Sulam" magazine, Cheshvan 5711 (1951).
Translated by Shifra Shomron, 2 Adar 5766 (2006).

"…And only fools are able to talk about the need to distinguish between loyal peace-seeking citizen Arabs and terrorists.
Only fools – I repeat the _expression. Because there is not a single Arab FROM THE RIGHT WING TO THE LEFT WING, who does not carry a lust for revenge in his heart in addition to the lust for power and the murder and robbery against us that he bore even before his lust for revenge was born. And all this being much more than that which existed in the years of Hevron and in the years 1936 – 1939.
But the similarities go even deeper.
ALSO THE HAVLAGA [the restraint – translator's note] WITH ALL ITS CHARACTERISTICS EXISTS.
With all its characteristics such as:
* First of all we search for the UN representatives in order to deliver a sharp protest (then it was the Head secretary and the High Commissioner).
* We go out to the area (like in the Wingate days) in order to purify the surroundings.
* We search for the "truly" guilty.
* (And this is the most distinctive) The headlines in the newspapers, practically a literal copy from then. "Until when?" and "We will not continue to the days agenda!" and "The criminal hand shall be severed" and "The end to prevocational deeds" etc etc.
AND THEY MURDER civilians and soldiers, with guns and with mines and with knives.
[…]
And if there is a change from the Havlaga days, then it isn't in our favor, rather it is to our shame. Because then there was still a scapegoat: the British rulers. Today there is a state, there is an army and terrorists murder in the streets and in the villages as in those days.
[…]
But if it's an Israeli DEFENSE [Hagana in Hebrew] Forces, and if its commanders are those that were the "Hagana" commanders and those that sanctified the "Havlaga" for decades – then it isn't puzzling:
The HAVLAGA in its entirety and with its numerous explanations including additional "state" explanations – still exists.
With all the victims, with all the disgrace and with all the reproof:
There has not been any change in the thought, there has not been any change in the soul, there has not been any change in the phrase.
Uniforms and dimensions still do not turn a "Yishuv" to a "state" nor a "Hagana" to an "army"."--