By Rabia Ali
ISTANBUL (AA) — Stretched amid the ongoing Gaza offensive and rising tensions on the Lebanese border, Israel’s military is now also coming under the increasing influence of religious Zionists within its ranks.
Experts suggest this trend is reshaping Israeli army operations and public discourse, leading to significant political and regional ramifications.
According to political analyst Ori Goldberg, there has been a surge of religious Zionism in the army. "We are seeing increased influence of religious Zionists in the IDF," said Goldberg, referring to the army’s official name, the Israel Defense Forces.
Israeli academic Neve Gordon explains, "The proportion of religious Zionists and particularly religious settlers from the West Bank in combat units within the Israeli military has dramatically increased over the past two decades."
"Over the years, religious Zionists have also climbed up the ranks within the military and currently many officers including brigade commanders and other high-ranking generals come from the settler movement," he said.
A recent report in British daily The Guardian indicates that about 40% of graduates from the army's infantry officer schools "now come from a national religious community that accounts for 12 to 14% of Jewish Israeli society and is politically more aligned with Israel’s right and far-right political parties and the settler movement."
- Religious Zionism in the army and in politics
Since the Gaza war began on Oct. 7 last year, reports have also emerged of soldiers committing atrocities against Palestinians, illustrating how the increased religious Zionist presence has impacted the army.
Gordon states, "This has had an impact on the fighting in Gaza, with reports emerging of certain units made up of religious settlers shooting at practically anything that moves regardless of whether they are targeting combatants or civilians."
Goldberg makes a similar observation, saying that the religious Zionist influence is most visible "when you look at field units in Gaza and their deteriorating discipline."
The Israeli army, said to be among the world's most powerful, has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians in its ongoing war in Gaza, with the majority being women and children.
Legal experts and rights groups have accused Israeli forces of committing genocide in Gaza, while dozens of cases have been filed at the International Criminal Court against the country's military personnel for committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Gordon adds that commanders in the field, many of them religious Zionists, are allowing their soldiers to commit war crimes rampantly in Gaza. "This is a major problem for the IDF as it creates a real gap between the high command and field commanders," he said.
The influence extends beyond Gaza, according to Gordon, who notes that this has had far-reaching implications "in terms of the kind of ethnic policing carried out in the West Bank, where the military has been actively supporting and indeed taking part in the expropriation of Palestinian land and the mobilization of settler violence against the indigenous Palestinian population."
He pointed out, however, that it would be a mistake to see the genocidal violence unfolding in Gaza as if it is motivated and directed by religious Zionists.
"Undoubtedly, they influence the political and military elites but Prime Minister Netanyahu, Defense Minister Gallant, and Chief of Staff Halevi, none of whom are religious, are the ones deciding the overall strategy," he added.
Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer at King's College London, explains that while religious Zionism is a somewhat minority opinion, it has taken over public and political discourse in Israel.
"Because they are the loudest, and obviously now have also the backing, in parliament, in politics, so in public discourse in Israel," said Krieg.
He highlighted the growing radicalization of Zionism over the past 20 years, strongly pivoting towards religious overtones from what was originally a much more secular ideology.
- Regional ramifications
Krieg points out that the occupation and other military activities have now been justified by a religious narrative.
"The occupation or other military activity has now been justified … by religious narrative, So what the IDF is doing in the West Bank, what it is doing also in Gaza, has now been framed within a religious fundamentalist (context)," Krieg explains.
He added that units in the Israeli army have been taking on a more religious character.
"These kinds of units act under the banner of religion … or these kinds of units become religious units that are on a crusade," causing "a lot of what we're seeing, the demonization of Palestinians in Gaza, the demonization of Palestinians in public discourse."
Gordon, the scholar, drew parallels between religious Zionists and other fundamentalist groups in the Middle East, underlining that they ultimately aspire to establish a Jewish theocracy in the biblical land of Israel.
"They definitely pose a threat to Israeli society, but I would add that they pose a threat to the whole Middle East since they would not hesitate to introduce policies and practices that would ignite the whole region if they were in power," he said.
According to Krieg, religious narratives have helped Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the far-right justify what they are doing in Gaza.
He said that while most of the actions of Netanyahu’s government don't necessarily have any religious connotation, they are being "justified by religious narratives and the religious right."
Krieg said that the religious Zionists in particular, are the loudest group in Israel, the best organized, and the easiest to mobilize, adding that Netanyahu has tapped into and nurtured that constituency over the last 15 years.
The rise of religious Zionism in the military is also backed by other members of Netanyahu’s government, namely far-right politicians such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
Gordon warns that the impact of the two is "disastrous not only for Israeli society, but if they achieve their goals, it will turn the Middle East on fire."