Military Rabbinate - 2009 Incitement Controversy

2009 Incitement Controversy

According to Israeli left-wing human rights group Yesh Din, during the 2009 Gaza conflict, the military rabbinate distributed a religious booklet that warned against showing mercy to enemies. The publications compared modern-day Palestinians to the Biblical Philistines and denied the historical existence of a Palestinian national identity. According to Yesh Din, the booklet could have been interpreted by soldiers as a call to act outside the confines of the international laws of warfare.

A Haaretz editorial described the booklets as "sermons that preach, in the name of ostensibly religious values, the killing of civilians" and which "opposes all the combat values formulated in the IDF throughout the generations". The booklet includes sermons written by religious Zionist leader Shlomo Aviner. It also accuses the material of fostering an atmosphere in which extremist sermons by Yitzhak Ginsburg praising Baruch Goldstein (described as "chauvinist and racist incitement") can be disseminated.

Following a series of inquiries, both in the Knesset and within the IDF, it was determined that the distribution of the alleged booklets took place in a few isolated incidents, by non-military personnel, without proper supervision of Military Rabbinate representatives. Following this incident, guidelines were set to ensure the authority of both the Military Rabbinate and the Education and Youth Corps within the IDF.