In an interview yesterday with Galei Yisrael (Israel Radio), Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon sharply criticized Givati Brigade Commander Col. Ofer Winter for religious statements he had made to his soldiers during Operation Protective Edge.

What did Col. Winter actually say that inspired this rebuke? Let’s examine his words, as well as the response of Minister Ya’alon:

Winter:

“We have planned and prepared for this moment and we take the mission upon ourselves out of commitment, complete humility, and because we are prepared to endanger ourselves and lay down our lives in order to protect our families, our people and our homeland.”

Winter then invoked the Shema — the traditional Jewish prayer of allegiance to the one God — and called upon “the God of Israel” to “make our path successful as we go and stand to fight for the sake of your people of Israel against a foe which curses your name.”

Ya’alon:

“There are also Druze, and Bedouin, and Christian Arabs and Muslim Arabs, and therefore when we speak as commanders, we need to speak to all and not just to a particular segment,” said Ya’alon. “In that I think commanders should carefully guard the IDF as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and not the Defense Forces of a particular group.”

So who is right? Is it wrong to talk about God to Israel’s soldiers?

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has often insisted that Israel be recognized as the “nation- state” of the Jewish people. There is no nation-state in the world that has a stronger tradition of connection to God than Israel. To ignore this connection, to prevent any references to God, would be contrary to who we are as a people.

The objections come mainly from those who don’t believe in a higher being. Certainly there are atheists among us, but according to recent polls, they are a rapidly shrinking minority, with well over 80% of Israeli Jews clearly expressing belief in God. Even some of the kibbutzim of the previously anti-religious HaShomer Ha’Tzair movement have organized traditional religious services for Rosh Hashanah in recent years, and they are growing in numbers.  As the singer Bob Marley was wont to say, “A person without knowledge of his heritage is like a tree without roots. “ And a thirsty tree, I might add, is one that seeks those roots.

Whether individual Jews fully observe the commandments as described in the Torah is not the issue. The Balfour Declaration and League of Nations approval notwithstanding, our claim as Jews to the Land of Israel is ultimately based on our connection to the Almighty as delineated in the Torah. To ignore and even forbid the ex‎pression of that heritage is to tie the hands of our soldiers. The heritage of Israel is indeed our raison d’etre, a very firm justification for our existence here in our country.  If our soldiers are “the Israel Defense Forces”, as Ya’alon pointed out, then it is indeed the heritage of Israel that will give us the strength to meet the multiple challenges that we are facing in a hostile world.

As for the minorities living in Israel, it is likely that among them, a large majority believe in God, with Christians and Druse certainly believing in the God of Israel, otherwise known as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. As for Muslims, only a very small number serve in the IDF, and most of them say that they believe in God. However, if they do, it better be the God of Israel, not the Allah of Islam’s Koran and Hadith, which says to chop off the fingertips of the “unbelievers” and boasts about the beheadings and the murder of Jews and “infidels”.

Then again, we’ll leave that topic for a separate article.

Wishing the Israel Defense Forces much success in its future battles – with God’s help, of course!

Reprinted with author’s permission