Israeli soldiers load shells onto a tank near the border with Gaza before bombing the Strip (Associated Press)

Several decades ago, the religious Zionist nationalists decided to overrun the Israeli army, and their large presence in the ranks of the infantry appeared to have consequences on the battlefield. They were actually fighting a holy war in the ruins of Gaza, as evidenced by thousands of videos posted on social networks.

This is how the Media Part website summarized an extensive report by Gwennael Lenoir in which she tried to show that the war in the ruins of the Gaza Strip is strange, because the soldiers film the battlefield, film themselves with their comrades and broadcast the videos on social networks, presenting a disturbing and disturbing image of the Israeli army. Its soldiers are exclusively male, and are inhabited by a Messianic tendency.

Eyal Sivan, who has been collecting this type of video clips since the start of the ground offensive in Gaza, and is a director and producer known for his leftist commitment, explains - decoding some of the videos for the site - that one of the clips was filmed “in Khan Yunis, and it shows how the apartment of the Palestinians who were... They live there in a synagogue, where soldiers, all Orthodox and religious Zionists, celebrate.”

What is strange - according to Eyal Sivan - is that these videos, which were filmed and broadcast outside the official military framework, do not provoke any negative reaction from the General Staff. “They began to be broadcast on Israeli television as elements of the prevailing atmosphere among the soldiers in Gaza, which indicates We do not find it shocking or inappropriate for Israeli army soldiers to bless the Torah scrolls and turn Palestinian homes into Jewish temples.”

Prayers and sermons on the battlefield

The writer wondered what happened in the Israeli army, which the founder of the state, David Ben-Gurion, wanted to be dedicated to it, without connections to religious authorities or political parties loyal to the government, to respond that this was in the first decades of the state, before the weight of the religious people increased, especially the ideological settlers who were called They are the religious Zionists in the Israeli political camp, and then in the armed forces.

Although the religious Jews rejected military service, the invocation of religion is evident at every turn of the ruins of the Gaza Strip, and in the short video clips filmed by the soldiers, there are countless religious sermons addressed to the soldiers, and if they are not the work of the officers, they take place before their eyes. Such as the appearance of a soldier wearing the large Jewish yarmulke worn by settlers, blessing his comrades before heading into battle, saying, “We are all holy soldiers.”

At night, another soldier, in the middle of a large circle formed by his comrades, begins a sermon in which the choir repeats certain sentences, which Eyal Sivan translates by saying, “In this war we will win because the Father in heaven protects us. God is a King who rules forever.” Then everyone chants, “To victory, to victory.” To victory,” explaining that it is “a mixture of prayers and calls for holy war, and it is not a usual ritual for the Israeli army.”

Military and religious academies

The writer explained that religion began to take its place in the army since the invasion of Lebanon in 1982, as Rene Bachmann says in an article published in 2021 entitled “The Israeli Army... in the Service of God or the State?” Yagil Levy, an Israeli sociologist who specializes in military issues, says, “The shortage of personnel and the entry of middle-class recruits with dreams other than combat made the General Staff try to attract religious youth, by multiplying deals with rabbis and specific arrangements aimed at facilitating the recruitment of religious people.” ".

Thus - the author says - the Hesder Yeshiva was born, which are religious academies that allow future recruits to continue for 5 years in Talmudic studies and military training in parallel and then active service. Among the most famous of them is the Bnei David School, which was established in 1988 in the Eli settlement, in the heart of the West Bank between Jerusalem and Nablus. Since its inception, it has trained about 2,000 young men, most of whom serve in elite units, combat units, and the reserves.

The evacuation of the settlements in the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2005 was a shock to the ideological settlers of the right and extreme right, and today their slogan has become clear and unambiguous: “We are returning home.”

Today, there are many religious Zionists in the highest positions in the army, and Rene Bachmann quotes Yagel Levy that of the 29 operational military training schools, there are 16 religious schools, 8 mixed schools and 5 secular schools, and the percentage of religious officers increased from 2.5% in the mid-1990s. To more than 25% in the mid-first decade of the 21st century.

One clip shows soldiers singing in a circle while holding each other's shoulders: "We will hit Hezbollah on the head, and in Gaza we will wipe out the descendants of the Amalekites, because there are no innocents."

An army divided into two teams

“The army is divided into two parts,” says Shir Hever, an economist and coordinator of the campaign to boycott the military embargo on Israel. “On the one hand, there are the intelligence, marching and aviation services, which use high-tech tools more than others, and on the other hand, there are infantry and armored vehicles, where there are a lot of The religious soldiers are supporters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and they are the ones who maintain the occupation and guard checkpoints in the West Bank.

Eyal Sivan explains that “South Africa cited a video in The Hague” that shows that soldiers fighting are transmitting the speeches of politicians, and it also shows the extent to which religious imagination has penetrated the army. The clip shows soldiers singing in a circle while holding each other’s shoulders, “We will hit Hezbollah on the head, and in "We will wipe out the descendants of the Amalekites from Gaza, because there are no innocents."

Some units are composed entirely of religious Zionists, as is the case with the Kfir Brigade, which deployed for the first time in the Gaza Strip during the current war, and the Netzah Yehuda Battalion has been integrated into it. Both have a proven and recurring history of violence against Palestinians, and the violence usually goes unpunished. As is the case today.

Levy: The Israeli army can exploit the emotions of soldiers and their commanders to instill a fighting spirit in them, but after the war, an effort must be made to rehabilitate the ground forces so that some or all of them do not turn into gangs.

Visible divisions

In the Israeli army today there are two types of soldiers: the older ones who have been called up and have discipline, and the others who do what they want, and they consider the Gaza Strip a playground in which they do whatever they want, such as looting or killing civilians who do not pose any threat, and Yagil Levy believes that this represents A challenge to the employees, because these actions carried out by religious Zionist soldiers of all ranks, represent a form of disobedience and the desire to impose their law on the highest military and political leadership.

“What is most disturbing - as Yagil Levy sees it - is the collapse of the army hierarchy, so that the chief of staff hears calls for revenge, sees violations of discipline, and a humiliating attitude towards the firing rules, but he does almost nothing. Because he is under right-wing terrorism.”

Levy, a sociology expert, wrote in an article in Haaretz newspaper, “The Israeli army can exploit the emotions of soldiers and their leaders to instill a fighting spirit in them, but after the war, an effort must be made to rehabilitate the ground forces so that some or all of them do not turn into gangs.” .

Source: Mediapart