TY  - BOOK
AU  - Backmann,René
TI  - The Israeli army: Serving the state or God?
PY  - 2021///.
							
N1  - 54
N2  - On May 26th, 1948, when David Ben Gourion, first Prime minister of the newborn State of Israel, signed the document establishing the Israel Defense forces, the officers’ oath stated that they “commit to maintain allegiance to the State of Israel, its laws and its authorities” and to devote all their energies for the “protection of the homeland and the liberty of Israel”. The new army was supposed to be respectful of religious convictions and laws without any link with political parties or religious authorities. Thirty years later, after the raise in power of Menahem Begin, the settlers and supporters of the nationalist-religious right began to receive incentives and encouragements from the political power to serve in the combat units, the special forces and enlist in officer schools. The percentage of religious soldiers in the infantry officer school grew between the 1990s and the 2010s from 2,5 % to 25 %. The result is that since many years, as the State gives settlers free rein to commit violent acts against Palestinians, the military does not confront the perpetrators or prevent their violence, and in some cases, soldiers even take part. It is also that a general, commander of a famous brigade sent a letter to its unit officers during the fighting in the Gaza strip, in 2014, in which he wrote that they were fighting “a blasphemous enemy that defiles the God or Israel”
UR  - https://shs.cairn.info/journal-confluences-mediterranee-2021-4-page-83?lang=en&redirect-ssocas=7080
ER  -