The IDF is supposed to be apolitical as officers are not permitted to express political views. While this may sound pristine, reality paints another picture because officers, junior and senior alike, have a hashkafa, and this leaks out on different occasions. One prime example is Brigadier-General Ofir Winter, a highly decorated officer whose climb up the senior ranks has been painful and delayed due to his open expression of belief in HKBH, a belief he shares with his troops to the ire of the General Staff what the “G” word is forbidden. The same article referenced in the hyperlink sites the case of Effie Eitam, who was also a rising star but finally decided to leave the military when it became clear to him that his path to the General Staff is blocked by his decision to become a baal teshuvah. There are many other examples and of course there are examples to disprove this but the above-mentioned reality is the prevailing reality in the military today among senior command as the influx of mechinot officers by and large have not reached the ranks of leadership. In fact Winter is from the first class of Bnei David and therefore the older generation of post-mechina officers serving and we see the battle his is having.
What is welcome however are comments like those aired on Wednesday 27 Menachem Av by retired Major-General Gadi Shamni, who served as Central District Commander. He spoke about Israel, referencing the state as “champion of occupation” in regard to Israel’s continued presence in Biblical areas; Yehuda and Shomron.
In his address at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Shamni blasted government policy, stating “We brought occupation to a level of art and we are the champions of occupation. I was head of Central Command and the commander of the occupation”.
The former senior commander and member of the General Staff reflects the secular Zionist viewpoint, one that is void of Yiddishkheit and HKBH while overly concerned with the fate of the so-called Palestinian people.
Shamni’s remarks came under fire by some including former Natioaal Security Advisor Yaakov Amidror.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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7 Responses
How could it be otherwise? From the beginning, zionism was about being a secular alternative to Torah. Why do you think the zionist anthem has a line about the dream of every Jew is to be part of people freed from the yoke of Torah. And the army is much less “left” than it started out as, back when parties favoring joining the Warsaw Pact were serious contenders, and were much stronger that either the religious, nationalist or revisionists.
The post-zionist IDF lacks any significant idealism, not even zionist idealim. What remains in the vacuum is pure hunger for power and control. The military overlords fear the dati-leumi because they recognize that they are driven by ideals. That’s a real danger for them.
there are two groups who are having lots of kids
a) frum yiden
b) the arabs
thats going to be the pouplation
of eratz yisroale
Why are you wondering,the whole Zionist system is based on the premis of kefura.
“If You Wonder Why The IDF Is Left-Wing And Secular” then you never learned that Zionism (of any stripe) is essentially a national-level identity theft of Judaism and is a secular and Nationalist (goy) replacement theology for Judaism.
The article is a shameless piece of propaganda. Gadi Shamni is RETIRED. There is no restriction on RETIRED soldiers from voicing political opinions. YWN might have heard that RETIRED soldiers even run for political office in Israel.
First off, if Yeshiva World News wants to write an opinion piece, they should state it in the title. Anyway, I have no idea where they get their facts, because the army is becoming increasingly more religious and more right wing. Ofir Winter is a very high ranking and prestigious officer. The head of the Education Corps is religious. There are more religious officers now than there ever was, and with the exception of a few staff officers in non combat roles and maybe the airforce, the army is becoming more religious. This is nothing but bad reporting.