IDF Soldiers and the Wrong Stuff

Religious texts made available to Israeli soldiers draw on the teachings of an ultra-Zionist named Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, head of Ateret Cohanim seminary in Jerusalem.

Aviner without any embarrassment, compares contemporary Palestinians with the Philistines of the Bible.

This is what he has to say on the subject:

"Is it possible to compare today's Palestinians to the Philistines of the past? And if so, is it possible to apply lessons today from the military tactics of Samson and David? A comparison is possible because the Philistines of the past were not natives and had invaded from a foreign land ... They invaded the Land of Israel, a land that did not belong to them and claimed political ownership over our country ... Today the problem is the same. The Palestinians claim they deserve a state here, when in reality there was never a Palestinian or Arab state within the borders of our country. Moreover, most of them are new and came here close to the time of the War of Independence."

A group of ex-Israeli soldiers who created an activist group named Breaking the Silence, claim that the army rabbinate has been encouraging Israeli soldiers to disregard international laws of war that protect civilians.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz points out that text made available to Israeli troops "steps blatantly into politics, sounds racist and can be interpreted as a call to challenge international law when it comes to dealing with enemy civilians."