IDF rabbinate publication during Gaza war: We will show no
mercy on the cruel
By Amos Harel
Ha'aretz, 26/01/2009
During the fighting in the Gaza Strip, the religious media - and on two
occasions, the Israel Defense Forces weekly journal Bamahane - were full of
praise for the army rabbinate. The substantial role of religious officers and
soldiers in the front-line units of the IDF was, for the first time, supported
also by the significant presence of rabbis there.
The chief army rabbi, Brigadier General Avichai Rontzki, joined the troops in
the field on a number of occasions, as did rabbis under his command.
Officers and soldiers reported that they felt "spiritually elevated" and
"morally empowered" by conversations with rabbis who gave them encouragement
before the confrontation with the Palestinians.
But what exactly was the content of these conversations and of the plethora
of written material disseminated by the IDF rabbinate during the war? A
reservist battalion rabbi told the religious newspaper B'Sheva last week that
Rontzki explained to his staff that their role was not "to distribute wine and
challah for Shabbat to the troops," but "to fill them with yiddishkeit and a
fighting spirit."
An overview of some of the army rabbinate's publications made available
during the fighting reflects the tone of nationalist propaganda that steps
blatantly into politics, sounds racist and can be interpreted as a call to
challenge international law when it comes to dealing with enemy civilians.
Haaretz has received some of the publications through Breaking the Silence, a
group of former soldiers who collect evidence of unacceptable behavior in the
army vis-a-vis Palestinians. Other material was provided by officers and men who
received it during Operation Cast Lead. Following are quotations from this
material:
"[There is] a biblical ban on surrendering a single millimeter of it [the
Land of Israel] to gentiles, though all sorts of impure distortions and
foolishness of autonomy, enclaves and other national weaknesses. We will not
abandon it to the hands of another nation, not a finger, not a nail of it." This
is an excerpt from a publication entitled "Daily Torah studies for the soldier
and the commander in Operation Cast Lead," issued by the IDF rabbinate. The text
is from "Books of Rabbi Shlomo Aviner," who heads the Ateret Cohanim yeshiva in
the Muslim quarter of the Old City in Jerusalem.
The following questions are posed in one publication: "Is it possible to
compare today's Palestinians to the Philistines of the past? And if so, is it
possible to apply lessons today from the military tactics of Samson and David?"
Rabbi Aviner is again quoted as saying: "A comparison is possible because the
Philistines of the past were not natives and had invaded from a foreign land ...
They invaded the Land of Israel, a land that did not belong to them and claimed
political ownership over our country ... Today the problem is the same. The
Palestinians claim they deserve a state here, when in reality there was never a
Palestinian or Arab state within the borders of our country. Moreover, most of
them are new and came here close to the time of the War of Independence."
The IDF rabbinate, also quoting Rabbi Aviner, describes the appropriate code
of conduct in the field: "When you show mercy to a cruel enemy, you are being
cruel to pure and honest soldiers. This is terribly immoral. These are not games
at the amusement park where sportsmanship teaches one to make concessions. This
is a war on murderers. 'A la guerre comme a la guerre.'"
This view is also echoed in publications signed by Rabbis Chen Halamish and
Yuval Freund on Jewish consciousness. Freund argues that "our enemies took
advantage of the broad and merciful Israeli heart" and warns that "we will show
no mercy on the cruel."
In addition to the official publications, extreme right-wing groups managed
to bring pamphlets with racist messages into IDF bases. One such flyer is
attributed to "the pupils of Rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburg" - the former rabbi at
Joseph's Tomb and author of the article "Baruch the Man," which praises Baruch
Goldstein, who massacred unarmed Palestinians in Hebron. It calls on "soldiers
of Israel to spare your lives and the lives of your friends and not to show
concern for a population that surrounds us and harms us. We call on you ... to
function according to the law 'kill the one who comes to kill you.' As for the
population, it is not innocent ... We call on you to ignore any strange
doctrines and orders that confuse the logical way of fighting the enemy."
The Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din has called on Defense Minister
Ehud Barak to immediately remove Rabbi Rontzki from his post as chief rabbi.
In response, an IDF spokesman said that: "Overall, letters that are sent to
the chief of staff [such as the request for Rontzki's dismissal] are reviewed
and an answer is sent to those who make the request, not to the media."
