Moderate Israelis fear the ruin of Israel because of right wing extremists jews

And according to many people in Israel, they are right to be afraid.

In Israel, the other army of God emerges

Israel is bracing for trouble over the Palestinians' expected move to declare statehood this month but there are fears that the real crisis will come from growing influence of right-wing Orthodox Jews in the Israeli armed forces, particularly the army.

This is reaching such proportions that Maj. Gen. Avi Zamir, until recently the chief of the military's Personnel Directorate, warned the General Staff that religious extremism must be stopped before the character and ethos of the military as a national institution is eroded beyond repair.

The deepening national split between religious and secular Jews ultimately imperils the future of the Jewish state itself.

"This is no longer Israel," leading historian Benny Morris lamented recently.

"A profound, internal, existential crisis has arrived. It stems in part from the changing nature of the country, more right-wing, more restrictive, far less liberal and far less egalitarian. Many moderate Israelis fear the country is heading for ruin."

The infiltration of the military by religious zealots has been under way for three decades. Much of the officer corps -- up to 30 percent by some estimates -- consists of men from extremist religious groups.

Some army units, including elite combat units, are entirely made up of religious soldiers, many of them from West Bank settlements.

"I think that Israel's coming to a juncture where it has to answer the significant question of whether it wants to continue being a Jewish, democratic, Zionist, modern, enlightened state or shall we turn into a rabbinical 'Judeastan'," said Rafi Mann, who teaches communications at the Ariel University Center of Samaria.

"I see what's happening in the army as a sign and it's very worrying."

In October 2008, the liberal Haaretz newspaper reported that the Chief Military Rabbinate under direction of Brig. Gen. Avichai Rontzki, a hard-line West Bank settler with links to far-right extremists, had expanded its educational activities to army combat units.

"In a number of cases it's religious brainwashing and, indirectly, also political brainwashing," the daily quoted one officer as saying.

The military has come under intense international condemnation for alleged war crimes committed during the December 2008 invasion of the Gaza Strip in which some 1,400 Palestinians were killed, most of them civilians.

Before attacking, rabbis handed out pamphlets calling for the establishment of Greater Israel and urged soldiers that "when you show mercy to a cruel enemy, you are being cruel to pure and honest soldiers."

Very worrying for everyone involved... and since Netanyahu and that nut Lieberman are still in power, nothing will change.

An older article...
Israel� �s religious extremists send the peace process up in smoke

Modern Israel is barely recognisable from the country I was first posted to 25 years ago. Then, the overwhelming consensus favoured peaceful co-existence with its Arab neighbours. Shimon Peres, the Labour leader who now serves as Israel’s president, was at the forefront of official efforts to make peace with the country’s enemies, which ultimately resulted in the signing of treaties with Egypt and Jordan.

In my district of Jerusalem, Jews and Arabs lived happily side by side; it was not uncommon for Palestinians to babysit Israeli children while their parents enjoyed a night out, perhaps at one of the Palestinian restaurants that catered for Israeli tastes.

Today, the divisions between the communities are so entrenched as to make such cosy arrangements unthinkable. The current attitude is better reflected by a recent rabbinical edict that forbids Jewish landlords from renting properties to Palestinian tenants.

The ultra orthodox are dangerous people and they are getting more and more powerful.

This is pretty much in line with what I have been banging on about the extremists in Israel and how in the end they will be found to be the most anti semetic group on earth.

Oddly I have been labeled as anti semetic for suggesting so.

Hopefully ordinary Jews in Israel and around the world will recognise the criminals running Israel and work to have them thrown out.

It's not Iran Israeli's should worry about, the real danger comes from within.

reply to post by bigyin


every citizen in this world, be it a US or Israeli or Danish or whatever, should fear as much as possible all kind of right wing organisations or people !!!
it's everywhere the same, they only look for trouble and destabilisation, war and hate, greedy profit and anti-solidarity, they cann't fight for a better world, they fight as puppits for their masters in the dark !! they are the angry dogs of some powers funding them for their own benefit ...

reply to post by Vitchilo

Much of the officer corps -- up to 30 percent by some estimates -- consists of men from extremist religious groups.

If they were in any other ME country then they'd be labeled "Terrorists", just at the mere mention of religious extremists..

Everyday the place deteriorates.

The parallels between the Israeli Govt's actions and rhetoric to Robert Mugabe's regime get closer and closer.