Some Israeli soldiers say military rabbis cast the offensive against Hamas rockets as a fight to expel non-Jews.
By Richard Boudreaux
March 25, 2009
Reporting from Jerusalem -- The winter assault on the Gaza Strip was officially portrayed in Israel as an attempt to quell rocket fire by militants of Hamas. But some soldiers say they also were lectured about a more ambitious aim: to banish non-Jews from the biblical land of Israel.
"This rabbi comes to us and says the fight is between the children of light and the children of darkness," a reserve sergeant said, recalling a training camp encounter. "His message was clear: 'This is a war against an entire people, not against specific terrorists.' The whole thing was turned into something very religious and messianic."
As armies elsewhere use chaplains, the Israeli military inducts rabbis to serve religious soldiers. Their traditional tasks include ensuring that kitchens are kosher and religious services are available.
But soldiers now going public with allegations of misconduct in Gaza portray the military rabbinate as a corps of self-appointed holy warriors whose sermons and writings demonized Palestinians.
Blogger deleted my earlier comment Geez, I guess they didn't like my bitching about Zionism.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, it's going to be interesting to see if Auntie Hill is going to cow-tow to the Zionists here and over there and watch the Palestinians get wiped off the face of the Earth.
If we do, our collective bad kharma will get us all.