iHaveNet.com
World - Israel's Army Becoming God's Army | Israel
  • HOME
  • WORLD
    • Africa
    • Asia Pacific
    • Balkans
    • Caucasas
    • Central Asia
    • Eastern Europe
    • Europe
    • Indian Subcontinent
    • Latin America
    • Middle East
    • North Africa
    • Scandinavia
    • Southeast Asia
    • United Kingdom
    • United States
    • Argentina
    • Australia
    • Austria
    • Benelux
    • Brazil
    • Canada
    • China
    • France
    • Germany
    • Greece
    • Hungary
    • India
    • Indonesia
    • Ireland
    • Israel
    • Italy
    • Japan
    • Korea
    • Mexico
    • New Zealand
    • Pakistan
    • Philippines
    • Poland
    • Russia
    • South Africa
    • Spain
    • Taiwan
    • Turkey
    • United States
  • USA
    • ECONOMICS
    • EDUCATION
    • ENVIRONMENT
    • FOREIGN POLICY
    • POLITICS
    • OPINION
    • TRADE
    • Atlanta
    • Baltimore
    • Bay Area
    • Boston
    • Chicago
    • Cleveland
    • DC Area
    • Dallas
    • Denver
    • Detroit
    • Houston
    • Los Angeles
    • Miami
    • New York
    • Philadelphia
    • Phoenix
    • Pittsburgh
    • Portland
    • San Diego
    • Seattle
    • Silicon Valley
    • Saint Louis
    • Tampa
    • Twin Cities
  • BUSINESS
    • FEATURES
    • eBUSINESS
    • HUMAN RESOURCES
    • MANAGEMENT
    • MARKETING
    • ENTREPRENEUR
    • SMALL BUSINESS
    • STOCK MARKETS
    • Agriculture
    • Airline
    • Auto
    • Beverage
    • Biotech
    • Book
    • Broadcast
    • Cable
    • Chemical
    • Clothing
    • Construction
    • Defense
    • Durable
    • Engineering
    • Electronics
    • Firearms
    • Food
    • Gaming
    • Healthcare
    • Hospitality
    • Leisure
    • Logistics
    • Metals
    • Mining
    • Movie
    • Music
    • Newspaper
    • Nondurable
    • Oil & Gas
    • Packaging
    • Pharmaceutic
    • Plastics
    • Real Estate
    • Retail
    • Shipping
    • Sports
    • Steelmaking
    • Textiles
    • Tobacco
    • Transportation
    • Travel
    • Utilities
  • WEALTH
    • CAREERS
    • INVESTING
    • PERSONAL FINANCE
    • REAL ESTATE
    • MARKETS
    • BUSINESS
  • STOCKS
    • ECONOMY
    • EMERGING MARKETS
    • STOCKS
    • FED WATCH
    • TECH STOCKS
    • BIOTECHS
    • COMMODITIES
    • MUTUAL FUNDS / ETFs
    • MERGERS / ACQUISITIONS
    • IPOs
    • 3M (MMM)
    • AT&T (T)
    • AIG (AIG)
    • Alcoa (AA)
    • Altria (MO)
    • American Express (AXP)
    • Apple (AAPL)
    • Bank of America (BAC)
    • Boeing (BA)
    • Caterpillar (CAT)
    • Chevron (CVX)
    • Cisco (CSCO)
    • Citigroup (C)
    • Coca Cola (KO)
    • Dell (DELL)
    • DuPont (DD)
    • Eastman Kodak (EK)
    • ExxonMobil (XOM)
    • FedEx (FDX)
    • General Electric (GE)
    • General Motors (GM)
    • Google (GOOG)
    • Hewlett-Packard (HPQ)
    • Home Depot (HD)
    • Honeywell (HON)
    • IBM (IBM)
    • Intel (INTC)
    • Int'l Paper (IP)
    • JP Morgan Chase (JPM)
    • J & J (JNJ)
    • McDonalds (MCD)
    • Merck (MRK)
    • Microsoft (MSFT)
    • P & G (PG)
    • United Tech (UTX)
    • Wal-Mart (WMT)
    • Walt Disney (DIS)
  • TECH
    • ADVANCED
    • FEATURES
    • INTERNET
    • INTERNET FEATURES
    • CYBERCULTURE
    • eCOMMERCE
    • mp3
    • SECURITY
    • GAMES
    • HANDHELD
    • SOFTWARE
    • PERSONAL
    • WIRELESS
  • HEALTH
    • AGING
    • ALTERNATIVE
    • AILMENTS
    • DRUGS
    • FITNESS
    • GENETICS
    • CHILDREN'S
    • MEN'S
    • WOMEN'S
  • LIFESTYLE
    • AUTOS
    • HOBBIES
    • EDUCATION
    • FAMILY
    • FASHION
    • FOOD
    • HOME DECOR
    • RELATIONSHIPS
    • PARENTING
    • PETS
    • TRAVEL
    • WOMEN
  • ENTERTAINMENT
    • BOOKS
    • TELEVISION
    • MUSIC
    • THE ARTS
    • MOVIES
    • CULTURE
  • SPORTS
    • BASEBALL
    • BASKETBALL
    • COLLEGES
    • FOOTBALL
    • GOLF
    • HOCKEY
    • OLYMPICS
    • SOCCER
    • TENNIS
  • Subscribe to RSS Feeds EMAIL ALERT Subscriptions from iHaveNet.com RSS
    • RSS | Politics
    • RSS | Recipes
    • RSS | NFL Football
    • RSS | Movie Reviews
Israel's Army Becoming God's Army
Arieh O'Sullivan

HOME > WORLD

 

SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

Jerusalem, Israel

A few days ago, a crack Israeli combat unit wrapped up a stint along the Gaza border and was deploying for training across the country. On the way, its commander diverted his soldiers to Jerusalem's Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site, to hear a sermon from a rabbi and make a blessing.

While the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said none were forced to participate in the religious ceremony, it did raise the hackles of secular Israelis who are concerned that the incident represented the creeping influence of deeply religious Jews into what had once been the exclusive realm of secular Zionists.

This argument came to bear over the weekend when the army chaplain altered the words of the official memorial prayer for fallen soldiers to read "In God's name we remember" instead of the traditional "In Israel's name we remember."

"I see what is happening in the army as a sign and it is very worrying," Dr. Rafi Mann, who teaches communications at the Ariel University Center of Samaria, told The Media Line. "I never say we should reject our heritage, but at this rate we may have a rabbi attached to every unit just like the Soviets had a politruk alongside their officers."

The question of dual loyalty of Jews in uniform has been bantered around for the past decade, ever since the national religious youth began leaving their seminaries, joining elite combat units and making careers of military service.

The transformation has seen the deeply religious Jews filling leadership positions in numbers far beyond their proportion in the general population. Since religious Israelis tend to have more hawkish views, some are concerned the army may face mass insubordination if asked to carry out any controversial moves to implement a future peace deal with the Palestinians, such as dismantling Jewish communities.

The IDF Spokesman's Unit claims it cannot supply figures on religious soldiers. "The IDF does not differentiate between religious and secular soldiers," an army spokesman said.

However, a recent edition of the defense journal Maarachot cited that in recent years some 30 percent of infantry officer course graduates identify themselves as "Zionist-religious," up from just a mere 2.5 percent two decades ago. In comparison, only about 12 percent of the general public place themselves in this category.

"There is nothing wrong having our army being Jewish," said Naftali Bennett, director of the Yesha Council, the organization representing Israelis living in post-1967 communities, and a former combat officer.

"The loyalty has to be to the state of Israel which is represented by the army. And the army needs to represent Jewish values," Bennett told The Media Line.

Bennett, who is an observant Jew who wears a 'yarmulke' (or kippa), eats strictly kosher food and doesn't travel on the Sabbath, said that as a commander in the early 1990s he was an odd-bird since most of the soldiers in his elite unit were his soldiers were secular. Their education seminars usually dealt with hearing of the exploits of the army like the Entebbe commando raid and never about Judaism.

About a decade ago, the IDF added a course on Judaism in its officers' academy. Once, religious soldiers, who pray three times a day, had to pray on their break time. Today, prayer time is set aside in the daily schedules.

Bennett echoes the arguments of the national religious populace, saying that having a soldier who is knowledgeable of religion and heritage did not mean they were taking a political stand.

"There is a distinction between that and politicizing the army, which I am against. I think the army has to stay out of political arguments," said Bennett.

Religious pre-army academies, most of which are located in the territories acquired by Israel during the 1967 war, have indoctrinated their students with the message to go out and be the bravest and toughest soldiers. The proliferation of national religious soldiers in the army's most elite units is a source of pride for some, and cause for concern for others.

"It is to their credit that these folks have taken the place that had been filled by the boys from the collective farms (kibbutz). On the other hand, the question is how much can you ensure that they will take the military rule fully and not allow religious bodies to bite into their authority?" Mann questioned.

That said, despite vocal fears, there were nearly zero cases of soldiers refusing to obey orders to forcibly evacuate Jews from their homes during Israel withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005.

However, six years have passed since the Gaza pull-out and the ranks of religious soldiers have grown, which may explain why some illegal Jewish outposts have remained in the West Bank despite government promises to dismantle them.

Last week, 10 soldiers in the elite Golani brigade were sentenced to the brig for wearing at a ceremony t-shirts proclaiming "Golani fights the enemy and does not expel Jews." And on Monday, hoards of deeply religious pre-army youth converged on the capital, blocked the main roads and attempted to storm the Supreme Court of Justice after a well-known right-wing rabbi was arrested for allegedly endorsing a book that incites violence against non-Jews.

"I think that Israel is coming to a juncture where it has to answer the significant question of whether it wants to continue being a Jewish, democratic, Zionist, modern, enlightened state or shall we turn into a rabbinical 'Judeastan,'" said Rafi Mann.

Mann said that the ranks of religiously observant soldiers have been strengthened and that they "are trying to change the character of the state."

The upper ranks of the IDF are still mainly secular, albeit the deputy chief of general staff and two others on the general staff are religiously observant (and graduates of the same high school class). Today, an over-proportionate number of these soldiers make up the mid-level ranks and their ascendency to top roles in the future is only natural.

"I am not going to count yarmulkes. I was at a 25-year reunion of my unit, and when army commanders got up to speak they not only quoted (Israel's first prime minister David) Ben Gurion, but now for the first time quoted also from the Bible. That means our army is becoming more Jewish," Bennett said.

 

SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

 

  • Greece and EU Attempt to Avoid Disastrous Default
  • Greece Passes Second Austerity Legislation
  • Greek Parliament Narrowly Approves Austerity Program
  • Greece Should Not Be About Austerity, It's About The Future Of Democracy
  • Greek Crisis: Brace for More Volatility in Financial Markets
  • Violence Mars Strikes in Greece
  • Papandreou Seeks Greek MPs Support For Austerity Plan
  • Ten Million at Risk as Drought Strikes African Horn
  • South Sudan Teeters Weeks Before Independence
  • Moroccan Voters Asked to Approve Reforms
  • Myanmar Open To Microcredit Expansion
  • Thousands Protest in Bangladesh Against Islamic Constitution
  • New Evidence Not Sufficient to Retry Filipino Senator's Son For Rape and Murder
  • Government Boosts Disaster Preparedness as Latest Storm Subsides
  • Health Personnel Spreading Hepatitis in Pakistan
  • Pakistan: More Polio Cases Despite Efforts to Contain It
  • Brotherhood Gets Out Muslim Message with Movies
  • Rejecting IMF Loan Egypt Risks Undermining Economy
  • Arabs Divided on Prospects for Change
  • Arab Spring: From Textbook to Tahrir Square
  • Palestinian Inmates Put Away Their Textbooks
  • Israel's Army Becoming God's Army
  • Lebanon's New Leaders Face Economic-Credibility Problem
  • Lebanon's Clerics Attack Domestic Violence Law
  • Is Syrian Unrest an Invitation for Al-Qaeda?
  • UK Public Workers Strike Over Pension Changes
  • Belarus Holds Lessons for Syria's Asssad
  • Libya and America's Commitment Problem
  • Afghanistan: How Much Easier It Is to Start a War Than to Finish One
  • Obama's Afghanistan Plan and the Realities of Withdrawal
  • Confusing Reports of a Battle in Matamoros
  • Implications of El Chango's Arrest
  • All Wheat Varieties Will Have To Be Replaced
  • In the Desert Kingdom: No Grassroots Politics
  • Fear and Trembling in Saudi Arabia
  • Minister's Resignation Highlights Jordan's Tense Relations
  • Muslim Brotherhood Walks Democratic Path With Caution
  • Mentoring Tomorrow's Middle East Youth Movement
  • Saab Unable To Pay Employee Wages
  • KLM To Power European Flights With Used Cooking Oil
  • Mindanao Aid Plan Underfunded Says United Nations
  • Philippine Airport Operator Looks for Body Scanners
  • NATO Chief Welcomes Obama Decision To Withdraw Troops
  • Afghanistan Bracing For Reduced Wheat Harvest
  • Bangladesh Ethnic Communities Protest Islamization Of Constitution
  • Former Mexican Attorney General Suspected of Helping Drug Cartels
  • Canada to Issue New $50 And $100 Plastic Bills In November
  • Conflict In Sudan's Southern Kordofan Region
  • Michael David: 'My Duty Was Cleaning Guns And Shining Boots'
  • Insecurity and Land Conflicts Threaten Peace In Sudan's Upper Nile State
  • Children Unprotected as Polio Spreads in Chad
  • Muslim Brotherhood Walks Democratic Path With Caution
  • The Afghan Money Pit
  • United States and Pakistan: Afghan Strategies
  • Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad Admits Opposition Has Legitimate Grievances
  • Syria: The Last Domino
  • Turkey in Position to Lead Region Out of Tumultuous Century
  • Lebanon's Opposition Feeling Threatened
  • New Mexican President, Same Cartel War?
  • Limited Options for United States in Yemen
  • Yemenis Look To Tribes As Force For Change
  • In Arab Spring Chill United Arab Emirates Puts Bloggers On Trial
  • Hamas Leader Urges Fatah To Abandon West
  • Somalia Power Struggle Could Intensify As Premier Quits
  • Ousted Tunisian Leader Denies Charges Before Trial Begins In Absentia
  • Tunisia Risks Controversy with Travel Ads
  • New Insight Into Male Sex Work and HIV Epidemic in Africa
  • Angola's 'Sans Papiers' Violently Deported In New Wave Of Expulsions
  • Severe Drought and High Food Prices Hit Pastoralists In Africa
  • The Hidden Cost Of Piracy In Somalia
  • Flood-hit Mindanao Battles Water Lilies
  • No Clear Route Out Of Servitude For Indentured Girls
  • IMF Urges EU Leaders to Act Now on Greece Bailout
  • European Finance Ministers Delay Second Greek Bailout To July
  • European Union Assures Greece Bailout Funds
  • Spaniards Protest Against Euro-Pact and Austerity Measures
  • Greece Is The World's Least Credit Worthy Nation
  • A World of Three Reserve Currencies -- Good or Bad?
  • Europe Is Warning Us
  • United States Has Trust Issues With China
  • The United States - Russia Missile Defense Impasse
  • Al Qaeda's New Video: A Message of Defeat
  • Why Sudan's Peace Is in Jeopardy
  • Egypt's Interim Rulers Learn the Democracy Game
  • Egyptians Back Keeping Clerics Out of Politics
  • House Pushes Obama on Libya
  • Ignoring the War Powers Act
  • Congress' Bipartisan Vice Is Cowardice
  • Outgoing Robert Gates Outlines Future US Presence in Asia
  • Robert Gates: Parting Shot on Afghan Policy
  • An Invitation to Leave Afghanistan
  • Obama Undermines Prospects for Middle East Peace
  • Forty-Four Years Later, Israeli Attack on USS Liberty Provokes Strong Response
  • Saudi Arabia Orders Men Out of Women's Clothing
  • Gulf Becomes Fault Line for Sunni - Shiite Tensions
  • Double Whammy for Bahraini Peace and Prosperity Drive
  • The Human Cost of the Yemen Conflict
  • Yemeni President Saleh Is Out But Yemen's Future Uncertain
  • Turkey's Dilemma: Economy or Constitution
  • Turkey: Elections and Strained U.S. Relations
  • A Bad Day That Never Changes
  • G8 Leaders Vow Billions in Aid to Egypt and Tunisia
  • What 'Arab Spring'?
  • Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood on the March -- Cautiously
  • International Law, Palestinian Statehood and Israel's Security
  • The Palestinian Move
  • Israel's Borders and National Security
  • Netanyahu's Message Is Self-Defeating
  • Justice for a General -- At Last
  • Protective Intelligence Lessons from an Ambush in Mexico
  • Corruption: Why Texas Is Not Mexico
  • Politics Behind Thai - Cambodian Conflict
  • Re-examining the U.S. Withdrawal from Afghanistan
  • The Bin Laden Operation: Tapping Human Intelligence
  • Inside Pakistan After bin Laden
  • The Kaspersky Kidnapping - Lessons Learned
  • A Political Vision for Israel
  • 3 Ongoing Conflicts You May Not Be Paying Attention To But Should
  • Visegrad: A New European Military Force
  • Turkey Setting Poor Example for Other Arab Nations
  • IMF's Crisis-Management Challenge
  • Dominique Strauss-Kahn Scandal an Embarrassment for France
  • Going Cold on Bin Laden
  • Chinese Investors Are Coming to Latin America
  • Bin Laden's Death a Rorschach Test for the World
  • Tough Times for Radical Islam
  • China No. 1 in Five Years? Not so Soon
  • Global Demography: Population Inflation
  • Smallpox Threat Resurrected
  • What's Next for al-Qaeda?
  • Bin Laden's Death and U.S. Afghan Policy
  • Engineering Programs React to Japan Nuclear Crisis
  • Syria: At A Crossroads
  • Iran: Authority Deficit
  • NATO: Lessons From Libya
  • United Kingdom: Forged In The Crucible Of Austerity
  • United Kingdom: Democracy As Conflict Prevention
  • United Kingdom: Military Defense Test Case
  • British Defense Policy: MoD Mess
  • United States - Pakistani Relations Beyond Bin Laden
  • Bin Laden Death Raises Big National Security Questions
  • Where the United States Goes from Here
  • Welcome to Paybackistan
  • Osama Bin Laden: Got Him!
  • Will Bin Laden Death Affect Afghan Exit Timetable?
  • Pakistan Unaware of Osama bin Laden Presence? Don't Believe It
  • Congress Praises Obama and Troops After Bin Laden Death
  • Strategic Implications of Osama bin Laden's Death
  • Israel's Army Becoming God's Army
  • Final Letter to Osama bin Laden
  • Justice Has Been Done
  • President Obama on Osama Bin Laden
  • Bin Laden and the Return of Common Sense
  • Osama Bin Laden Dead
  • Osama bin Laden Aftermath
  • The Future of the Liberal World Order
  • Why DOHA Trade Negotiations Are Doomed and What We Should Do About It
  • Who's Afraid of the International Criminal Court?
  • 5 Economies Worse Off Than the United States
  • The Rise of the Islamists
  • The Black Swan of Cairo
  • Understanding the Middle East Revolutions of 2011
  • Parsing the Differences Between Tunisia, Egypt and Libya
  • The Heirs of Nasser
  • Terrorism After the Arab Revolutions
  • Egypt Can't Seem To Shed Bad Habits
  • How Hosni Mubarak's Reign Came to an End
  • Libya: The Two Obamas
  • How to Save the Euro and the European Union
  • Recalibrating Homeland Security
  • Getting the Military Out of Pakistani Politics
  • Power and Politics in an Autonomous Latin America
  • The Sacred and the Dead
  • China and the End of the Deng Dynasty
  • United States - Pakistan Partnership in Peril
  • Islamist Militancy in a Pre- and Post-Saleh Yemen
  • Iraq, Iran and the Next Move
  • World's Most Dangerous Man? Syrian Leader Makes Strong Case
  • A View from Syria
  • Libya and Beyond: Why not Every Nation for Itself?
  • Confidence Remains Strong in Global Markets Despite Crises
  • Latin America Provides Cautionary Tale for Middle East
  • The Arab Risings, Israel and Hamas
  • America Should Exercise Pragmatic Idealism in the Arab World
  • Richard Goldstone Recants His Report Attacking Israel
  • Middle East: Autocratic Deafness
  • A Brave Libyan Stands Up Against Rape
  • Is Pacific Fish Safe to Eat After the Disaster in Japan?
  • Demand and Disasters Complicate Global Energy Picture
  • Global Arms Trade: A Vortex of Death and Wealth
  • Arms Trade: a Filter, Not a Dam
  • Organised Crime: Joint Responsibility
  • It's Time, Mr. President: A Time for Clarity
  • Chances for a New US Foreign Policy Not Taken
  • Did the United States Give Up on Libya?
  • The Gulf Region: Anger Management
  • Saudi Arabia: Guarding The Fortress
  • Israel's Recent Political Actions Aren't Going Over Well
  • Israel: If Not Now, When?
  • A 'Reverse Beauty Pageant' for Tyrants
  • African Hydropower: Damming at What Cost?
  • United States - Pacific Relations: Pacific-Minded
  • 7 Problems That Could Derail the Global Economic Recovery
  • Technology Powers Revolutions and Saves Lives
  • Russia Stocks Soar on Rising Oil Prices
  • Japan: Heavy History
  • China: Weak Impetus for Change
  • China Sees the Evil of Plastic Bags
  • Pakistan: Educating For Tolerance
  • Immaculate Intervention: The Wars of Humanitarianism
  • AQAP and the Vacuum of Authority in Yemen
  • Japan Quake and Tsunami Among Most Costly of All Time
  • China's Economy the Key to Quelling Social Unrest
  • Syria's Stalled Revolution
  • Prudent Multilateralism in Libya
  • The Thinly Veiled Campaign for Regime Change
  • Unexpected Revelations in Libyan Intervention
  • President Obama's Most Amazing Libyan Achievements
  • Libya: Insanity Dawn
  • Obama's Half-a-Loaf War
  • Obama Said He Doesn't Mind Criticism on Libya Mission in Latin America
  • What Happened to the American Declaration of War?
  • The Power of Giving Back
  • Safety on the Cheap
  • Egyptian Elections: the Sooner, the Better
  • The Libyan Question: What Now?
  • Obama's 'Goldilocks' Doctrine
  • War Number Three
  • Un-Unified Oppositions in Bahrain and Yemen
  • Japanese Earthquake Brings Back Sad Memories
  • 5 Reasons Investors Should Not Bail on Japan
  • Japan's Nuclear Crisis Reignites Safety Debate
  • Military Involvement in Libya Costs Taxpayers Millions
  • United Nations Relevance
  • A Mother's Confession on Mothers' Day
  • Middle East Crisis: Today's Events in the Middle East
  • World's Costliest Disaster
  • Japan Crisis: Video Reports 3/23/2011

 

Available at Amazon.com:

Aftermath: Following the Bloodshed of America's Wars in the Muslim World

Displacement and Dispossession in the Modern Middle East (The Contemporary Middle East)

Enemies of Intelligence

The End of History and the Last Man

The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order

The Tragedy of Great Power Politics

The End of the Free Market: Who Wins the War Between States and Corporations?

Running Out of Water: The Looming Crisis and Solutions to Conserve Our Most Precious Resource

Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water

Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization

The Great Gamble

At War with the Weather: Managing Large-Scale Risks in a New Era of Catastrophes

Friendly Fire: Losing Friends and Making Enemies in the Anti-American Century

Dining With al-Qaeda: Three Decades Exploring the Many Worlds of the Middle East

Uprising: Will Emerging Markets Shape or Shake the World Economy

 

Copyright 2011, AHN - All Rights Reserved

 

Recommend

Search Powered By Google

Google Search   

ADVERTISEMENT

Advertisement

Advertisement

ADVERTISEMENT

Job & Career Search

career & job search                    job title, keywords, company, location
  • HOME
  • WORLD
  • USA
  • BUSINESS
  • WEALTH
  • STOCKS
  • TECH
  • HEALTH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • ENTERTAINMENT
  • SPORTS

World - Israel's Army Becoming God's Army | Global Viewpoint

  • Services:
  • RSS Feeds
  • Shopping
  • Email Alerts
  • Site Map
  • Privacy