What next after the domination of religious extremists in the Israeli army?

Over the past three decades, the Israeli army has undergone a restructuring of its elite as a result of economic, social, demographic and political shifts. This has influenced the atmosphere in Israel and its consequences will surely have an impact on the state’s methods of dealing with its Arab and Islamic milieu.

Secular Ashkenazi Jews monopolised Israeli politics, the media, academia and security for decades. Now there are many indicators which suggest that the secularists are losing their influence and positions to members of the Zionist religious trend who seem determined to take control of the outlets most influential in political decision-making circles, as a part of a clear plan. The most distinct achievement of the religious right is its infiltration of the army and security institutions in Israel.

Members of religious Zionist groups represent 12 per cent of the total Jewish population in Israel. In the early eighties, they made up just 2 per cent of the officers in combat units of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF); they now constitute 35-40 per cent of the elite brigades and combat units (Israel Today, November 15, 2013). It is worth noting that the percentage of religious individuals exceeds this percentage in some army units.

The number of such religious Israelis has also risen in senior military ranks. For example, the senior officers of three out of four elite brigades in the infantry all belong to the religious Zionist trend, while most of the other company commanders and battalion heads are from the same demographic. One only has to watch the many officers’ graduation ceremonies on Israeli television to see the predominance of men wearing the kippah, the Jewish skullcap.

It is important to note that whereas religious Zionist Jews engage in military service in

Israel, the ultra-Orthodox Haredim seek to avoid it, preferring Torah studies.

Domination of intelligence

Former US Ambassador to Israel Dan Kurtzer described it as the “Shin Bet State”, a reference to the dominant influence of the internal intelligence agency, “Shin Bet”, on the political decision-making circles in the country. Given Shin Bet’s responsibility for tackling the Palestinian resistance and internal security challenges in general, senior politicians do not make decisions regarding the Palestinian issue without the agency’s recommendations.

Yaakov Peri, a former head of Shin Bet, said in his book He Who Comes to Kill You, that until the early 1980s, religious Zionists had very little representation in the agency. Since then there has been a clear shift, with many ex-soldiers moving to work in intelligence. Although the identity of intelligence agents in Shin Bet is kept secret by law, the information revealed by Amir Oren, the military commentator for Haaretz newspaper, on 26 January shocked many in Israel. In his article, Oren confirmed that three out of the four most important positions in Shin Bet are occupied by generals belonging to the religious Zionist trend, including the agency’s current head, Yoram Cohen; the middle leadership ranks are dominated by agents of the same religious persuasion.

Rabbis seize the opportunity

In the early eighties, there was a distinct boost to the Israeli economy which, along with other factors, caused members of the secular middle class to look towards business careers after their national service rather than positions in the military. They had once occupied more than 75 per cent of senior leadership roles in the IDF. This shift provided an opportunity for religious Zionists to jockey for influence within decision-making circles.

In their book Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel, Israel Shahak and Norton Mezvinsky confirm that the members of the religious Zionist trend’s keenness on leadership positions in the army was part of the plan set by the terms of their religious reference points, taking advantage of the decline in secular army officers.

The leading rabbis of the religious Zionist trend encouraged their followers to climb the ladder of military leadership while they took the initiative to launch the settlement project in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967. They are interested in providing the conditions that will enable them to develop this project and prevent it from being blocked or cancelled. Having sympathetic and influential voices in senior military positions reduces the chances of settlements, which are illegal in international law, ever being evacuated. The government rarely makes such important decisions without consulting senior military and intelligence officers for their views. Such opinions are, no doubt, influenced by the ideological positions of the heads of the institutions, who are, increasingly, members of the religious Zionist movement.

For example, many in Israel believe that in his recommendations to the government and Knesset, Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen rules out the possibility of a third Palestinian Intifada in protest against settlement activity. This is consistent with the beliefs of the religious movement to which he belongs, on the basis that predicting a third uprising and linking it to settlements will make the settlers accountable in the eyes of the general public for any security deterioration suffered by Israel.

About the “state of legitimacy”

The book Hat and Cap, released recently and edited by Reuven Gal, a former top psychiatrist in the IDF, paints a bleak picture of the future of Israel and the region in the event that the influence of the religious Zionist trend over the military and intelligence continues to grow at the same pace. Gal and the researchers of the book predict that this reality would lead to a fundamental change in the nature of the political system in Israel itself, perhaps to the end of Israel’s “democratic” nature.

The degree of the military institution’s subservience to the politicians is one of the most important hallmarks of a democratic government. Gal and his team predict that the religious army leaders are more likely to act in accordance with the guidance they receive from the rabbis and religious authorities than the instructions issued by the government. Many, including generals on the reserve list, warn about the possibility of religious Zionist officers using their monopoly over influential positions in the military and security establishments to rebel against the government. It should be borne in mind that some intellectuals within the religious Zionist movement have called for the government not to exclude the possibility that they might declare their own independent state in the occupied West Bank where Israeli laws will be disregarded in favour of the teachings of the Torah.

Future of the conflict

Of course, all of this will have an effect on the way that Israel deals with the Palestinians. In his book Angels in the Judea Sky, Israeli author Daniel Carly focused many of his predictions about the growing religious representation in the Israeli army on the behaviour of Israel towards the Palestinians.

According to Carly, under religious leadership, the Israeli army will force the government to take control of Al-Aqsa Mosque, destroy it and build the Third Temple on its ruins. Palestinians living in Jerusalem and the West Bank will be loaded into trucks and deported to neighbouring Arab countries. In a similar vein, Israeli researcher Amir Bar Or believes that religious domination over the military will bring the curtain down on any chance of achieving a political agreement of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Will this change or stop? Israeli institutions allow people of a religious persuasion to compete for influential positions on the grounds of guaranteeing the rights of citizenship that every Jew has. As long as that is the case, the current situation looks set to continue.

Translated from Al Jazeera net 9 March, 2014

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.