Israel Matzav: The BBC's shocking view of rabbis

The BBC's shocking view of rabbis

On its Monday night Newsnight show, the BBC presented a shockingly biased view of the role of rabbis in the Israel Defense Forces. Here's part of their write-up:

Israel's army is changing. Once proudly secular, its combat units are now filling with those who believe Israel's wars are "God's wars".

Military rabbis are becoming more powerful. Trained in warfare as well as religion, new army regulations mean they are now part of a military elite.

They graduate from officer's school and operate closely with military commanders. One of their main duties is to boost soldiers' morale and drive, even on the front line.

This has caused quite some controversy in Israel. Should military motivation come from men of God, or from a belief in the state of Israel and keeping it safe?

The military rabbis rose to prominence during Israel's invasion of Gaza earlier this year.

Some of their activities raised troubling questions about political-religious influence in the military.

Gal Einav, a non-religious soldier, said there was wall-to-wall religious rhetoric in the base, the barracks and on the battlefield.

As soon as soldiers signed for their rifles, he said, they were given a book of psalms.

And, as his company headed into Gaza, he told me, they were flanked by a civilian rabbi on one side and a military rabbi on the other.

"It felt like a religious war, like a crusade. It disturbed me. Religion and the army should be completely separate," he said.

'Sons of light'

But military rabbis, like Lieutenant Shmuel Kaufman, welcome the changes.

In previous wars rabbis had to stay far from the front, he says. In Gaza, they were ordered to accompany the fighters.

"Our job was to boost the fighting spirit of the soldiers. The eternal Jewish spirit from Bible times to the coming of the Messiah."

Some of you may recall that just after the war, Haaretz complained about religious materials being distributed to soldiers. The materials in question were biblical and ancient rabbinic quotes about the law of war and how to deal with an enemy. At the time, I noted that 40% of the casualties in Operation Cast Lead were religious soldiers, and told you that reflected the percentage of combat soldiers in the IDF who are religious, and therefore, the fact that rabbis are being granted a larger role in inspiring troops is not surprising.

I want to show you a brief clip from the BBC report (I may get more of it later; it cannot be viewed from outside the UK, but my friend Ray in the UK got this for me and may be able to get more), and then we'll talk some more after the video.

Read All at :

Israel Matzav: The BBC's shocking view of rabbis