No! There is no rebellion in the IDF. And I’m pained to even have to respond to this issue with that word. We are a strong, unified army.
I’m not happy at all about using the very loaded term “rebellion”, but that is the exact word just used by the IDF Chief of Staff against thousands of IDF soldiers, in active service and reserves.
The other day at a large IDF operational update conference at the Ramat David Airbase, IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir held up a “Mashiach” patch and rebuked the commanders:
“Is this what you want our army to be? This is a values-based rebellion within the IDF.”
What an absolute disgrace. I’m absolutely ashamed of this Chief of Staff to say such a thing and can’t wait for him to be replaced.
I give him all the credit for all he has done for the Jewish people in all his security roles, but he is the old generation that must be replaced ASAP.
He is part of the “desert” generation, unable to recognize what so many Jewish youth in Israel recognize today, including many traditional and secular youth, that God is helping us win this war motivating them to strengthen their Jewish identity. They are the new generation of redemption.
Zamir’s thinking highlights exactly why this war is still dragging on, and not won yet, because our senior military and intelligence leadership are filled with men and women who think exactly the same way. Back in 1967 Israel liberated Jerusalem, Gaza, the Sinai desert, Judea, Samaria and the Golan Heights in six days, but today’s military leadership won’t even properly conquer Gaza or Southern Lebanon to protect Israeli lives, in over 2 and a half years.
When the Chief of Staff, Eyal Zamir, looks at a soldier expressing Jewish identity with a Mashiach patch and calls it a “values rebellion,” you have to ask:
What values are we actually fighting for?
Because something is deeply broken.
Hamas didn’t hide their intent, they literally named the October 7 invasion the “Al-Aqsa Flood,” openly signaling to the world that their campaign of massacre us was driven by a 1,400+ year religious objective centered on capturing Jerusalem.
Yet our military and intelligence leadership continue to downplay that reality, because acknowledging it would force a confrontation with a truth that doesn’t align with the worldview they’ve embraced, one that dilutes Jewish identity, thinks Israel is a Western nation like all others, and avoids recognizing the religious, ideological nature of the jihadi Muslim enemy we are facing.
A Jewish soldier connecting to the very identity and purpose of the Jewish people in our land, that’s a problem? A rebellion against Jewish values?
But other ideological expressions somehow pass without outrage?
The IDF pushes out LGBT symbols all the time. We love and respect all people, but that is definitely not a Jewish value, and yet the IDF pushes it. That is a rebellion against Jewish values.
There is nothing more fundamentally Jewish than learning Torah—the Bible—and internalizing that our victories in war are not only the result of a highly trained military, but also of our spiritual strength. Success on the battlefield has always been a partnership between physical preparedness and faith.
Yet the army resists allowing Ultra-Orthodox soldiers dedicated time during their service to learn Torah. If the IDF truly reflected authentic Jewish values, Torah study would not be seen as a concession, but as a core component of military life.
Just as soldiers train with weapons to defend the nation physically, they should also be strengthening their spiritual foundation. Shooting drills prepare the body for battle; Torah learning fortifies the soul and purpose behind that battle. A Jewish army should be built on both.
You can’t have it both ways.
You can’t erase the Jewish soul from the Jewish army and expect that army to fight with clarity, purpose, and determination to win.
And let’s be honest about the deeper issue:
The senior military leadership removed the word victory from the IDF lexicon.
Instead, we hear endless discussions about restraint, proportionality, and international optics, while our soldiers are sent into impossible situations where enemy lives are too often prioritized over their own.
Tolerating the evil around and within us, instead of confronting it to eradicate it, allowing it to persist, to regroup, to continue threatening Jewish lives, is not a Jewish value. It is the opposite.
A Jewish value is to face evil clearly and decisively, to remove its capacity to harm. Anything less is not moral restraint—it’s a distortion of what Jewish responsibility demands.
Zamir and the current senior leadership are the ones rebelling against Jewish values, not the soldiers wearing the Mashiach patch.
The “values” that lead their army leadership do not reflect morality. They reflect confusion.
And confusion on the battlefield costs lives.
This is why, more than two years into this war, we are still not where we should be.
The army leadership protested retaking all of Gaza. They protested taking all of Southern Lebanon up to the Litani River without allowing the enemy population to return.
And our enemies around us still terrorize us.
Wars are not won just with weapons. They are won with clarity of purpose, moral conviction, and leadership that knows who it is fighting for.
The Jewish people don’t want an army stripped of its identity.
We want senior commanders who understand: We are here to eradicate evil and ensure all those who support killing us live far away, not within our Biblical borders that we liberate.
We are here to punish our enemies by losing land so that they pay a price that they understand.
We are here to protect lives. We are here to win. We are here because this is our land, our mission, our destiny.
And here’s the truth that gives me hope:
The soldiers on the ground get it. The junior officers get it. The people of Israel are waking up.
There is a growing demand for leadership rooted in strength, clarity, and authentic Jewish values, not imported confusion dressed up as morality.
Yes, it’s frustrating. Painfully so.
But this is a process.
And we will overcome.
Hold on to your faith. Not as a slogan, but as a reality.
Because when we do our part, when we fix what needs to be fixed here on the ground, and reconnect as a nation to our true Jewish values, God will do His.
And that’s when total victory will finally come.
In the meantime, I will continue wearing my Mashiach patch when I wear my holy IDF uniform.
Am Yisrael Chai!!!