'Window into Israeli Army': A dispute between Rabbis and IOF

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Rabbis from the Religious Zionism party called on their students to refuse to serve in the Armored Corps of the Israeli occupation forces in objection of "Tel Aviv" integrating three female Israeli soldiers into a military training course in which religious soldiers are participating, bringing to the foreground the existing issues and strain between religious and secular soldiers within the IOF, once again raising the issue of dual loyalty among its ranks.

"Rabbis in the military called on their students not to serve in the armored corps in protest against the inclusion of women in the training course," Israeli media said.

Additionally, Israeli media described the Rabbis' calls as a form of a "Rabbi revolution against the army", noting that in light of women becoming part of the same company as religious men, Rabbi Yaaqov Medan called on his religious students not to enlist in the company in question.

جيش الحاخامات.. حاخامات يأمرون تلاميذهم بعدم الخدمة في سلاح المدرعات، تجنباً للاختلاط مع النساء.

تقرير: هاني فحص #الجيش_المأزوم pic.twitter.com/qhreNqGHWE

— قناة الميادين (@AlMayadeenNews) December 16, 2022

Several analysts and observers stood at this issue and discussed its repercussions and indications, seeing as it "reveals parts of the complicated and problematic relationship between the Israeli army and the denominational schools that send some of their students to serve in the military."

Israeli analysts underlined that the dangers of the calls for disobedience do not stem from their contents or context, but rather from the parties making the calls in the first place and the negative repercussions they are causing.

Israeli military affairs analyst Amir Bar Shalom clarified in this context that these calls have two dangerous aspects, the first one being that they were made by "moderate" Rabbis and that the IOF takes their opinion into consideration before its every move, and the second one is that the calls will put soldiers before a debacle; which one of the two orders should they obey. "From here, it is concluded that these calls are extremely dangerous."

 Religious Zionist Party widens divide

In the fifth part of "Window Into the Israeli Army", Al Mayadeen touched on the issue, going back into the relationship that puts the IOF before a dilemma at every turn, rendering it more impossible to achieve a balance between the conditions of the two rival factions: the religious and the secular within the IOF.

Al Mayadeen's Israeli affairs analyst Abbas Ismail underlined that the Religious Zionist Party represents the far-right religious extremists in the Israeli occupation forces. "They work very hard toward pushing students to enlist in the Israeli army and take the reigns of power in the Israeli army."

The far-right movement, according to Ismail, is trying to impose its religious principles and values within the army through various issues, the most important of which is segregation between males and females within the army."

#الجيش_المأزوم | ما هو جيش الحاخامات؟

محلل #الميادين للشؤون الإسرائيلية عباس إسماعيل @wafasarayaaridi pic.twitter.com/jTlFfvWRhv

— قناة الميادين (@AlMayadeenNews) December 16, 2022

This precedent, according to the analyst, is a dilemma for the Israeli occupation forces, which will only grow with time because the followers of the Religious Zionist Party are rapidly increasing.

"The Religious Zionist party agreed with the Israeli army in 1965, that the religious people in religious schools learn the Torah, the provisions of the religion, jurisprudence, and the Talmud for a year, then serve in the army for two or three years, and then complete their religious studies," he explained.

Back in the 80s', he added, the followers of the party made up around 2% of officers, while the latest tallies reveal that they make up around 30-40% of officers in certain brigades and 60% of officers in other brigades.

"In the future, when a large number of Religious Zionists become officers, they are brining with them [into the IOF] their principles and beliefs, which is what we have been seeing as of late, which would make it very hard to control the issue of soldiers' dual loyalty," Ismail said.

"The Religious Zionist party is expanding greatly, especially in the ground forces brigades, infantry brigades, and combat brigades," he concluded.

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