The Israel Defense Forces announced it is investigating after troops in the 36th Division mounted flags calling for the construction of the Third Temple on heavy machinery operating in Gaza. The flags, which appeared on bulldozers and other engineering vehicles, were distributed by a reservist in violation of army protocol—yet they represent just the latest chapter in a broader story about religious expression within Israel’s military during wartime.
“This is an incident that is not consistent with the IDF’s values,” the military stated in response to media inquiries. “The incident will be investigated and handled accordingly.”
According to Army Radio, a reservist in the division handed out the flags, which were then displayed on the vehicles in the field. The soldier’s commanders were “aware of the matter” and will hold a discussion with him, requesting that he immediately cease distributing the flags. If the incident continues, it will be handled “in accordance with military orders,” the IDF warned.
The Third Temple flags are not an isolated incident. In April, the IDF published new guidelines aimed at ending what had become a widespread phenomenon: soldiers attaching non-military patches and flags to their uniforms and equipment, particularly those associated with messianic beliefs. Yet the symbols persist.
Last October, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi personally intervened when he visited Golani Brigade combat forces in southern Lebanon. During his tour, he encountered a soldier wearing a “Messiah” patch—a symbol associated with Chabad-Lubavitch. Halevi approached the soldier, removed the patch from his uniform, and placed it in the soldier’s shirt pocket. “Only military insignia on the uniform,” the chief of staff said firmly, though he allowed the soldier to keep the patch out of sight if it held personal significance.
More recently, in March, an image circulated showing a soldier alongside a Gazan child who had approached an IDF post before being safely returned. The soldier’s uniform prominently displayed both a “Moshiach” patch and another depicting the Beit Hamikdash (Holy Temple). The IDF did not blur the patches in the released image—a departure from past practice.
The symbolism points to the conflict’s essential focus. Hamas chose the Dome of the Rock with crossed swords as its emblem, naming one of its key militant factions the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. The Islamic claim to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount sits at the ideological core of their war against Israel. When Israeli soldiers display Third Temple imagery, they are answering that claim with an equally uncompromising declaration: this land, and this mountain, belong to the Jewish people by divine right.
The IDF insists that all uniforms and tactical equipment come exclusively from the military’s Technology and Logistics Division, designed specifically for each unit’s operational needs. The military maintains that personal symbols have no place on official gear. Yet the repeated appearance of these emblems—despite official disapproval and direct intervention from top commanders—suggests something the IDF cannot regulate: the conviction among many Israeli soldiers that they are fighting a war with prophetic significance.
