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Sarah Koretsky is the sister of imprisoned soldier Captain Tzvi Koretsky.
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By Sarah Koretsky
January 2, 2005
My name is Sarah Koretzky, and I am turning to you via the newspapers since all our efforts to receive fair treatment from you have been ignored.
My brother, former IDF Captain Tzvi Koretzky, was informed of a major terrorist attack warning approximately two years ago, regarding a car bomb with three suicide terrorists on their way to a Jewish target. My brother was ordered by his commanders to locate the vehicle and to stop it at all costs. I have no doubt that my brother would sacrifice everything (as he sacrificed now) even his life, in order to stop the terrorists - because he was the sole defense standing between them and innocent citizens of the State of Israel.
My brother entered the village in his jeep, and found himself surrounded by a violent mob. The angry mob assailed him with every object they could find to throw at him, including stones and Molotov cocktails. Since there was no way for him to continue through the street, he announced repeatedly in Hebrew and Arabic, for the mob to cease and desist. Since his request was ignored, and the announcements from the Israeli army helicopter above were disregarded, he fired warning shots in the air.
Those didn't help either. It just strengthened the attacker's resolve against him. He therefore shot towards the wall (just as a tank commander did, a number of months later, killing 7 local residents via this action, including a number of children, and by which his officer was recently commended by you). No proof has been shown during his two year trial, regarding the wounded youth who sat in his home (in the living room, according to the youth's father's testimony) and died afterwards from his wounds. The medic who treated a youth at the city checkpoint testified later that it was impossible to ascertain that the cause of death resulted from shrapnel; and no autopsy was every performed. My brother was found guilty of negligent manslaughter because he didn't choose the correct wall.
Why am I writing to you? After all, this story is certainly familiar to you. I want to tell you about the person who is behind this story, my brother Tzviki. Surely you have read his files that are filled with certificates and letters of commendation from his superior officers; if not, I would not be surprised. Tzvi and I grew up with three other siblings and we were raised from childhood to give and volunteer.
My mother, Malka, immigrated to Israel from Belgium when she was 19 years old, out of ideological motivation, and left behind her family and a secure future. My father, Yafim, is a wounded Israeli IDF veteran with 101 percent disability who was seriously wounded, physically and emotionally, in the Six Day War, at the bloody battle of Tel Faher. I don't need to tell you how hard it is to grow up with a crippled father. And, in this context, Tzviki was more to us than a big brother; he accompanied us on our youth group and school trips, he attended our school parties, took us on trips throughout the country, and always called or came to visit us and take care of whatever was needed. He "raised" us as best he could.
It's already been 17 years that we have lived in the settlement of Ginot Shomron, out of belief in our right to this land. I can tell you today that the majority of the people do not deserve to walk upon her. Tzviki is to us, an example to emulate and admire, always there to help and pay attention, to understand that there is always something else to do even when no one asks.
My brother enlisted in the IDF in 1995 and enrolled in the tanks unit, where of course he finished basic training with honors. He continued to advance up the ladder of achievement with honors -- as he always did more than was expected of him. He was an admired commander and once told the story of how his soldiers came to sleep by him when they couldn't make it home. All of his certificates of excellence are displayed proudly in our living room. For years my father collected his certificates and medals of distinction like a proud commander. My brother sacrificed 9 years in the army and was supposed to be on leave this year to learn in the "Ofek" program, after which he would return to serve another four years; obviously these plans have been cancelled.
I was not drafted to the army, and during the time that the trial began against Tzvi, I understood that my place was not in this kind of army. Despite this, I decided that I would still serve my country for two years, the same as any woman soldier, and I am serving my second year as an educational tour guide in the development town of Yerucham. It is my desire to turn to you without anger, yet I know it was in your power to change the verdict that befell Tzviki, or at least to prevent degrading him when he unjustly entered prison.
I will not appeal to you with name-calling such as "coward or weak-hearted", yet it is my wish that you know that after the lights of the media are turned off, that you have to face yourself, alone, and think about how you could send away an innocent man; one whose every witness testified to his innocence, whose many letters of commendation and evaluation from his superior commanders you received. Both of us know about the many instances of far greater destruction and bloodshed that have taken place in this terrible war. I am not saying that you should judge the 1739 soldiers and imprison them all -- how would our army look? But it is up to you to understand that the attention given to this case and the excessive determination to convict Zviki at all costs (in order to satisfy one cause or another) is not clear to me at all.
I might be just a girl of 19, and maybe I don't understand everything, but the lack of virtue and the travesty of justice that was done in the case against my brother are not that complicated to understand. And you know it. Imagine a crippled father who sits this winter to demonstrate against the Defense Ministry, against the injustice towards his innocent son, after he sacrificed everything he had and his children and for this country. Imagine a mother, who is berating herself for raising her children to be "suckers" ("fryerim") who would give everything for others, even if it cost them their future. Imagine an elderly grandmother whose grandchildren are her entire world, who we dare not even tell her that her grandson is now sitting in prison. Imagine a new, eight month old baby, and a loving spouse, who have to go to sleep at night and wake up every morning for the next two months without their loved one. Imagine all this, and tell me how you sleep at night, because I don't anymore.
I will not beg before you like perhaps my parents did in the past or Tzvi's commanders; but I will ask of you to be ethical and to take responsibility. This case is familiar to you; don't be afraid of anything, you can still change the decree; don't let us down.
I call on all soldiers of the Israeli army, children my age: there has never been and there will never be someone who will back you up in your military actions, there will be no problem accusing you of things that you didn't do. Don't ever do more than what is asked of you. Nothing is worth the destruction of your lives and the destruction of your families. I am calling on all citizens of the State of Israel: I have no great faith in the judicial and political systems of Israel, nor do I place much hope in this letter, but we, as a people, have the strength to bring justice to light, or at least to change something in this apparatus that we call our government. We will not sacrifice our soldiers when there is no one to support them, we will not risk their lives; we will not let them die or worse than that, be living dead. By the way, Moshe Ya'alon, the release of an innocent man from prison is an even greater photo-op than bestowing a rank on a 90 year-old woman.
Views expressed by the author do not
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