Needed: A Gary Cooper kind of courage

REHOVOT, ISRAEL—No one doubts that retiring Maj-Gen. Elazar-Stern, head of the IDF's Human Resources Department, is a brave man. He has faced more than his share of bullets during his 34-year military career. But what has always differentiated Stern from other officers is his willingness to stand up for his ideas, regardless of opposition from elements inside the army and elsewhere.

The question is whether he has the courage to enter the civilian arena in the kind of role played by Gary Cooper in "High Noon." Here in Israel, as in that mythical frontier town where Cooper operated, the "bad guys" more often than not are running the show and the general population has learned to distrust most politicians. So, in the post-Olmert era, they might well be pleased if a real "good guy" would take his place on the main street of Israeli life. Stern, a lanky Sabra, could be our Gary Cooper when his compulsory cooling off period ends.

He has time and again shown his willingness to defy political correctness and even public opinion. One of the recent examples was his public opposition to negotiations with those terrorists who had kidnapped our soldiers because such negotiations would serve to strengthen the terrorists and weaken our national resolve. This view naturally angered many people, and particularly parents of Gilad Shalit, still in Hamas hands. Stern also speaks forcefully against draft dodgers, many of whom could and should serve in the army. The Army's mental health officers, he believes, shouldn't so readily exempt people with psychological problems from military service even if there is an occasional soldier who may commit suicide as a result. And when a manufacturer had decided to use a draftdodging entertainer in a program he was sponsoring, Stern warned him of a possible boycott if he did so.

Stern is religiously observant and it is from his own camp that he suffers the most severe criticism. Many hate him for a variety of reasons, with special emphasis on his refusal to forcefully support the campaign against the evacuation of the Gaza Strip. Also held against him by many of the Orthodox is his view that non- Jewish soldiers killed in battle should be buried in the same military cemeteries as their Jewish comrades-in-arms.

There have also been differences of opinion between Stern and some religious elements in regard to the service of those boys who combine military service with religious studies. He would like them to spend more time on the front lines and to serve in mixed Orthodox-secular units instead of homogeneous Orthodox ones.

On one occasion he was really outraged by his Orthodox brethren, namely when he and family were attacked during a visit to the Western Wall, and there were even some demonstrators who cursed not only Elazar, but also the embryo that his daughter was carrying.

Asked whether this incident prompted him to think of taking off his kippa, he said that this was a thought he had for a split second but immediately rejected. "If I had such a thought, it was because I did not want to be associated with those bearded men who lie and turn Judaism into a hate-filled religion," he said. "I know I am more religious than they are." .