On October 7, Hamas invaded Israel and on October 8, the IDF began Operation Iron Swords with the stated goal of eliminating the existential threat on the southern border. While the mission is clear and the IDF soldiers are intensely motivated, the gradual appearance of personalized patches indicates an additional, more messiah-oriented motivation that is growing among the troops. And it has Hamas terrified of the IDF.
Last month, a post appeared on Telegram Featuring an American “mercenary” fighting for the IDF. The soldier was standing guard at night in full battle gear when he made the video.
“They call this operation the Swords of Iron,” he said to the camera as he took a velcro patch from his fatigues displaying the symbol for the war. “But what are we really fighting for? We are fighting for the right of the Jewish people to exist, be Jewish, and practice their religion, and be free,” he said, removing another velcro patch with a Star of David.
“And one day, our true leader will come and we will be united as a whole Jewish nation,” he said, displaying a patch that had a crown and the word ‘Moshiach’ (Messiah). “So that we can rebuild the Beit Hamikdash (the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem),” he said, displaying a patch with an image of the Temple.
“But until then, what makes us unique is that we’re that one nation who believes in One God that ultimately makes that one reason, ‘Am Yisrael Chai’ [the nation of Israel lives],’ he concluded.
The video was reposted on pro-Hamas sites which identified the Moshiach symbol as belonging to the Chabad Hasidic movement which believes the Messiah “will arrive as part of the Apocalyptic Prophecies of the Old Testament to restore the Glory of Zion & Eretz Israel”.
The pro-Hamas site stated that the Moshiach will be “The Transition, this one, from a Republican, secular and liberal-democratic Israel, to a Messianic Kingdom, ruled by Halakha, a Kingdom led by the long-awaited Moshiach as dreamed by the Kahanists allied with Netanyahu.”
The post concluded that the video was, “An American mercenary in the Israeli occupation army [who] said that the genocide of Gaza is necessary for the construction of a third temple on the ruins of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
It should be emphasized that the soldier never mentioned Gaza and only spoke about the survival of the Jewish people. It should also be emphasized that the Jewish temples did not stand at the site of Al Aqsa Mosque, but rather stood at the site of the Dome of the Rock which is not a mosque and is known in Arabic as Qubbat aṣ-Ṣakhra.
It is clear that Hamas would see the new Temple patch as a more serious declaration of war as its symbol features an image of the Dome of the Rock under crossed swords and an image of their proposed Palestinian state extending from “the river to the sea”, as their charter dictates.
The Jewish star patches are readily available on ebay, as are the Chabad Messiah patches. Also available are these patches with the inspirational Hebrew slogan, “חורבות ברזל, ביחד ננצח” (swords of iron, together we will win).
The IDF patch featuring an image of the Temple was unavailable on EBay but was available on the High on the Har website, which promised to provide one free patch to an IDF soldier for each patch sold on its site.
The patches are becoming popular and on a visit to the Gaza border, Rabbi Tuly Weisz, the CEO of Israel365, came across a group of soldiers who were all wearing the patches.
