Haaretz, Dec. 17, 2016

I recently received a phone call from a mother who told me that her daughter, who serves on a training base, was asked to sleep fully clothed in the girls’ dormitory, for reasons of modesty. These things stem from the fact that rabbis are telephoning commanders and appearing in person on IDF bases. This is [...] infiltration by halakhic [religious-law] authorities into the army. This is theocratization.

[...] There is an idea here of a war that is commanded by the Torah, a war that people embarked upon to defend the reputation of God. A religious war. This is not a war it would be okay to end by reaching some sort of pragmatic compromise.

[...] A war that cannot have an end, unless the non-Jews disappear.

[...] On the eve of embarking on Operation Cast Lead [in 2009-2010], pamphlets bearing Rabbi Shlomo Aviner’s signature said, “The enemy must be shown no compassion.” During Cast Lead, [then-IDF Chief] Rabbi Avichai Rontzki stood before IDF soldiers and presented the enemy as Amalek. [the tribe that attacked the Children of Israel after the Exodus from Egypt; the Torah decrees that Amalek should be annihilated – ed.].