Sacralisation of the Middle East Conflict

Military Rabbis in the Israeli Army

by Joseph Croitoru

Warfare in Israel is increasingly a matter of faith. The force behind this development is the Military Rabbinate, which has a growing influence within the army. Yet there are also signs of resistance against the spread of ultranationalist ideas in the military, as Joseph Croitoru reports

The Military Rabbinate, a unit in existence since Israel’s foundation, has been headed by the 57-year-old brigadier general Avichai Rontzki for the past three years. Rontzki is the first supporter of the militant settlers’ movement to hold the post. His appointment, it seems, was intended to bridge the gap that had opened up between the radical Israeli settlers and the country’s government and military after the army pulled out of the Gaza Strip in 2005.

Rontzki has taken full advantage of the opportunity to spread the ideas of the radical settlers’ movement in the army, and in the combat units in particular. Under his aegis, the number of military rabbis, many of whom are now also being trained for active combat, has multiplied.

Rontzki hopes to resurrect the biblical institution of the “Cohen Meshuach Milchama” – the field rabbi in the Torah, who, legend has it, fired the Israelite soldiers on to battle with his religious zeal.

Military rabbis and soldiers on the battlefront

Today’s military rabbis now have the role of accompanying soldiers to the battlefront and providing them with “moral support”. This concept was first put to the test in the recent Gaza war – which would not have caused any particular stir, had the Military Rabbinate not issued a brochure of questionable content to non-religious Israeli soldiers as well during the fighting.

The text quoted Rontzki’s fellow traveller Shlomo Aviner, one of the head ideologists of the militant settlers’ movement. Aviner teaches that the Land of Israel belongs solely to the Israeli people, is holy and may not be contaminated, for example by an “autonomy” – clearly referring to the Palestinian issue.

Like the ancient Philistines, Aviner maintained in the army publication that today’s Palestinians are also foreign invaders, most of whom only came to the country shortly before 1948. And the text also attempted to steel the soldiers’ fighting spirit through references to rabbinical scriptures allegedly sanctioning cruelty against a cruel enemy.

Protests against ultranationalist ideas

It was this last statement in particular that caused indignation in Israel, prompting the Israeli human rights organisation Yesh Din to lodge an official complaint with the country’s defence minister. Avichai Rontzki, his critics said, had violated the commandment of political neutrality that every military officer has to obey and had abused his office to make ultranationalist ideas socially acceptable in the army. To date, this complaint has not led to specific consequences for Rontzki.

In all the public outrage in Israel, one fact was generally overlooked. The controversial brochure was a quasi-official version of a similar publication with an almost identical title, with thousands of copies already circulating among religious soldiers.

Published in calendar form and paperback format, these guidelines have been distributed to soldiers free of charge by the Shavei Hebron yeshiva (meaning “those who return to Hebron”) since 2003. The head of this Talmudic school, Rabbi Chananel Etrog, holds the view that military service is a religious duty, as it is one of the army’s tasks to re-conquer the land of the fathers.

Similar ideas are contained in the annual publication of the Military Rabbinate, issued in a new look and with a new programmatic title since Rontzki entered office in 2006 – “Let Thy Camp Be Holy”.

Military operations – religious duty?

In 2007, for example, Rabbi Shmuel Dov Rosenberg addressed the subject of “ethics, battle and dealing with the enemy and his civil environment from the view of religious law” in the publication. The author is of the opinion that all Israeli military operations are essentially a religious duty.

The civilian population, he writes, must not be viewed collectively as a target. However, he holds “neighbours of terrorists” who ignored their activities and did not move away from them responsible for the consequences. In Rosenberg’s eyes, there is no need for the army to guarantee that these civilians remain unharmed. And if an Israeli soldier’s life is under threat, Rabbi Rosenberg writes, he is no longer obliged to show consideration for civilians’ safety.

These views may well have inspired readers in the recent Gaza war, just as Rontzki’s blessing for the soldiers going into battle, which was broadcast on the evening news on Israeli television. God, the rabbi announced at the time, would stand by them in battle against the enemy and protect them.

© Qantara.de 2009

Joseph Croitoru, born in Haifa in 1960, is a historian, journalist and expert on the Middle East. He has been a freelance journalist since 1988, initially for the Israeli press and since 1992 for German publications. He writes for the FAZ and NZZ. His most recent book published in German is Hamas. Der islamische Kampf um Palästina (Hamas – The Islamic Struggle for Palestine), C. H. Beck Verlag, 2007.

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