An Israelie solider, a veteran of the Gaza action and shielded in his identity, states,

Ram: “What I do remember in particular at the beginning is the feeling of almost a religious mission. My sergeant is a student at a hesder yeshiva [a program that combines religious study and military service]. Before we went in, he assembled the whole platoon and led the prayer for those going into battle. A brigade rabbi was there, who afterward came into Gaza and went around patting us on the shoulder and encouraging us, and praying with people. And also when we were inside they sent in those booklets, full of Psalms, a ton of Psalms. I think that at least in the house I was in for a week, we could have filled a room with the Psalms they sent us, and other booklets like that.

“There was a huge gap between what the Education Corps sent out and what the IDF rabbinate sent out. The Education Corps published a pamphlet for commanders – something about the history of Israel’s fighting in Gaza from 1948 to the present. The rabbinate brought in a lot of booklets and articles, and … their message was very clear: We are the Jewish people, we came to this land by a miracle, God brought us back to this land and now we need to fight to expel the gentiles who are interfering with our conquest of this holy land. This was the main message, and the whole sense many soldiers had in this operation was of a religious war. From my position as a commander and ‘explainer,’ I attempted to talk about the politics – the streams in Palestinian society, about how not everyone who is in Gaza is Hamas, and not every inhabitant wants to vanquish us. I wanted to explain to the soldiers that this war is not a war for the sanctification of the holy name, but rather one to stop the Qassams.”

This was not the only revelation that has surfaced. If you read the above account, publised in an Israeli Newspaper, you will note that even some soldiers noted that it was Hamas, not the civilians, which should be targeted. The Rabbinate used this action by Hamas to push a religious war. And now, you have a leader in Israel who sees it the same way, supported by ‘Christian’ Zionists urging others to see it this way as well. Remember, those Gentiles, some of them were Christian.

Remember, the Palestinian death toll during the war is at 1,417 — 926 civilians,236 fighters and 255 police officers. Israeli officials have disputed those figures. Thirteen Israelis were killed.

For more, go here.