עמוד 1

Judaismisnot thelDF's enem Knessetpanelon roleofreligioninIDF sparksheateddebatebetweennational-religious,secularMKs

By LAHAV HARKOV sent letterof encouragement attend religiousservices in the counts peoplewho wear kip- selves,and there isno religious to his soldiers with religiousIDF. There is no religiouscoer- pot, askingif theyalso count coercion. Discussion on whether reli- overtones and biblical refer- cion and every soldierhas the redheads and people with Gal said concern about gion is forced on IDF soldiers ences, and another in which rightto decide if he wants to mustaches. "religionization"of the IDF grew heated in the Knesset Golani Brigadesoldiers leav- take partin religiousevent," "This whole meetingisinap- is rooted in the possibility ForeignAffairs and Defense ing the South were taken to Agmon stated. propriateand should not take of soldiers puttingrabbinical Committee panel on man- the Western Wall, where they As forWinter's letter,Agmon placein the Knesset. Judaism authoritybefore the chain of and recited the power trainingMonday. blessingfor having said that every commander is not the enemy of the IDF or command. The arguing began before survived life-endangeringcan write lettersbased on his of ;Hamas and Hezbol- "When Turkeywas more sec- the did, situation. meeting officially values and worldview, wheth- lah are. Judaism is an essential ular, if any soldier said any- with MK Yoni Chetboun "Oh no, the Western Wall," er that means biblicalreferenc- part of our roots here. This is thing religious,he was dis- the (BayitYehudi)protesting Chetboun said sarcastically.es or quotingBerl Katznelson. an attemptto separatethe Jew- missed, because he was follow- of its which "These wording topic, aren't extreme Bar-Lev accused Agmon and ish peoplefrom their roots," ing an authorityother than used Hebrew term that he actions. The all paratroopers religiousMKs in the commit- Yogevstated. his commander. In Iran,every- feltmeans takeover, religious go to the Western Wall, even tee of feigninginnocence and However, MK Nitzan Horow- thing is run religiously,"he but Dr. Reuven Gal, research- if they'renot religious,"MK that Winter and the Golani itz ()lamented that he said,before Lavie interrupted. er on in the IDF, said Mordechai religion Yogev (BayitYehu- officer'sbehavior is "outside received many complaints "Ifyou want peopleto listen translates to "religionization"di)pointedout. of the acceptablenorms in from IDF soldiers who said to you, you need to givenor- and is not OC necessarilynega- Manpower Brig.-Gen. the IDF, which raises question theyfaced religiouscoercion. mal examples.I'm closingmy tive word. Gadi Agmon said that noth- marks." representativefrom the ears,"Lavie stated. Subcommittee on manpower ing is happeningin the IDF "There'snothingwrong with Soldiers'Ombudsman's Office Chetboun said that Gal and and chairman Omer that training could be called "religion-it if the soldiers were given said that during Protective other researchers are "try- Bar-Lev (Labor)addressed con- ization/'and the IDF makes choice," MK Aliza Lavie (Yesh Edge he received six com- ing to destroythe last nature cerns that religiousfactorsare sure there is equalityfor all ),who is Orthodox, told plaintsrelated to religion,all reserve in which the different changingthe IDF's character. and loyaltyto the state, while Bar-Lev. "The IDF isn't the of which were from religiousparts of Israeli societywork Bar-Lev said he called the integratingdifferent popula- same as it was when you were soldiers who felt their com- togetherin dedication to their meeting after two incidents tion groups, as partof itbeing there;40 percent of officers' manders did not letthem have homeland." in OperationProtective Edge: "the people'sarmy." course cadets are religious." religiouslifestyle. "The IDF is showing the one in which Givati Brigade "There are clear orders on MK Yisrael Hasson () Chetboun responded that numbers and sayingthis phe- commander Col. Ofer Winter the topic.No one isrequiredto wondered why the IDF even the numbers speakfor them nomenon doesn't exist, but

some researchers and MKs refuse to believe it. They're obsessivelytryingto destroy what unites us as one Israe- li Zionist society,"Chetboun added. faction chairman Ofer Shelah (Yesh Atid)took the middle ground, saying that clearlythere is more reli- giousatmospherein the IDF than there used to be, but itis natural because there are more religiouscombat soldiersthese days. "If you don't like it, then send your kids to be combat soldiers,"he said to the secular

peoplein the room. At the same time, Shelah said the situation is also result of the IDF cuttingits education budget and allowingNGOs to hold activities for soldiers, most of which are religious. Bar-Lev closed the meeting by callingfor balance in the content of programming from IDF education soldiers and those from the IDF rabbinate. "Anyone who thinks every- thingis fine is feigninginno- cence. This is topicthat the publicisconcerned about, and we will continue to follow it," he said