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.
. . .
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."
None of this is necessarily surprising or unprecedented, but I still don't like it. A country who thinks it has God on its side regardless of the atrocities it commits cannot be a dependable ally to the United States or any other country. We already have militant Islamic fanatics to deal with. We don't need a more modern (nuclear-armed) and efficient state to engage in the same kind of fanaticism.
In short, this is obviously a terrible development to the extent that peace in the Middle East is desirable. There is no hope as long as either/both sides think God gave them the land of Palestine, and that's just that.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment