For a Yom Kippur War officer trained in the 1970s in a strictly professional and secular army, the rise of this current in the 2000s and 2010s represents an unimaginable cultural revolution. “I left the army thinking that discipline, uniformity, and religious neutrality were constants,” recounts this veteran now in his seventies. “Seeing units where the Torah guides decisions, where officers claim messianic missions, would have been unthinkable for us.”
FROM THE CREATION OF THE IDF TO HARDAL INFLUENCE
The Israeli army (IDF) was born in 1948 in the immediate context of the War of Independence. It was meant to symbolize national defense and emerging sovereignty. From the outset, it developed the notion of “purity of arms”, a secular, professional army where soldiers were trained to follow strict rules of discipline and military ethics. Religious neutrality and loyalty to the state, not to religious authorities, were foundational principles. Over the decades, the IDF evolved. While the “purity of arms” remained a moral reference, the army’s composition gradually changed. Combat units saw increasing social and religious diversity. From the 1990s onward, facing growing disinterest from secular youth for certain roles, the army turned to a more religious, motivated, and ideologically committed population. Today, the notion of purity of arms is transforming. It incorporates religious values and a messianic view of war. Operational decisions can be influenced by biblical interpretations, and the authority of rabbis within units helps reshape military culture. The army is no longer solely an instrument of national defense but a vector of religious and ideological vision.
KEY MILITARY FIGURES
Brigadier General David Bar Khalifa, a career officer, commands the 36th Division. In fall of 2023, at the start of the ground offensive in Gaza after the Hamas attack, he cited a biblical passage about vengeance and called to “crush” the “cursed plot” from which the enemy would come. This religious reference is not mere rhetoric. It reflects a theological reading of the conflict, characteristic of part of the Hardal current, where war is integrated into a sacred narrative. Another significant figure is Rabbi Avraham Zarbiv, based in the Ariel settlement in the occupied West Bank. In January of 2025, he stated on an Israeli channel that he had overseen the destruction of around fifty buildings per week in the Gaza Strip. He later released a video showing himself operating a Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozer demolishing a building in Khan Younis. For these actors, military engagement, colonization, and religious conviction form an assumed ideological continuum.
MAXIMALIST TERRITORIAL DOCTRINE
Hardal ideology rests on an extensive interpretation of the “land of Israel” (Eretz Israel), a biblical notion with deliberately undefined borders. It can include not only the West Bank and Gaza but also parts of the Sinai and Jordan. In this conception, Palestinian sovereignty holds no theological legitimacy. Expansion of settlements in the West Bank and Jewish presence in Gaza are perceived as historical and religious projects. Sociologist Yagil Levy, professor at the Open University of Israel and expert on society-military relations, notes that Hardal members remain a minority among religious Zionists but have high organizational capacity and a clear strategic objective: to invest in decision-making centers.
INFLUENCE ACROSS ALL ARMY BRANCHES
While Hardal’s impact is often analyzed in infantry and armored units, its influence now extends across all IDF branches, including the Air Force and the Navy. In the Air Force, some religious pilots and officers follow programs combining Talmudic study and military training, similar to yeshivot hesder, which are institutions where ultra-Orthodox young men alternate intensive Talmudic studies with mandatory military service in the IDF, aiming to reconcile religious devotion and national duty. This integration results in discussions about religion’s role in missions and heightened attention to religious conduct codes within squadrons.
The Israeli Navy, often less visible in analyses, has seen a discreet but strategic diffusion of Hardal. Religious officers are present in coastal patrol units, escort forces, and notably among naval commandos (Shayetet 13), one of the IDF’s most elite and sensitive units. In these contexts, requiring advanced technical skills and international coordination, Hardal officers manage to combine religious rigor with operational excellence, shaping unit culture while respecting military standards. Collective prayers, strict adherence to dietary laws, and religious instruction integrated into training have become regular practices in some contingents. This inter-branch extension shows that Hardal is no longer confined to ground battalions but now shapes the religious and ideological outlook of officers across the army. For a Yom Kippur veteran, this spread in infantry, air force, and naval commandos represents a radical shift from the original idea of “purity of arms.”
THE ARMY AS AN INFLUENCE LABORATORY
Hardal’s progression in the army aligns with structural evolution. Since the 1990s, part of secular youth has gravitated toward technological units, military intelligence, or high-tech sectors. Combat units increasingly attract young people from religious Zionist backgrounds. According to the NTA (Noam Tzvi Academy), a research institute affiliated with religious Zionism, the share of officers from the religious-nationalist current in infantry units rose from 2.5% in 1990 to 35% in 2018. Two structures play a central role: yeshivot hesder and pre-military religious academies (mechinot), preparing future officers ideologically and physically. In 2006, Rabbi Avihai Ronski’s appointment as head of the military rabbinate marked a turning point. Former settler and founder of a pre-military academy, he strengthened the rabbinate’s embedding within the religious Zionist movement. According to Yagil Levy, this constitutes a “silent revolution”: the military rabbinate becomes a central cultural actor within the institution.
INTERNAL TRANSFORMATIONS AND CULTURAL TENSIONS
Hardal presence changes practices: visible collective prayers, tefillin in public, displays of religious figures in barracks. In 2018, religious soldiers of the 188th Armored Brigade refused joint training with female soldiers, revealing tensions between religious requirements and army coeducation principles. Researcher Samy Cohen, emeritus at Sciences Po, notes close ties between soldiers from religious academies and their rabbis. Even as a minority, these officers access elite units and command positions. Conversely, Yoav Adomi, reserve officer and tech sector executive, reports no formal subordination of operational decisions to religious imperatives. The debate remains open: cultural influence or structural shift?
EXTENSION TO THE STATE’S TOP LEVELS
Hardal now transcends the military sphere. Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionist Party and second-generation settler, holds strategic roles as Minister of Finance and Minister delegated to Defense, overseeing the West Bank Civil Administration and settlements. At the head of Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, since May 2025 is David Zini, an officer from the same ideological environment. Initially judged too messianic by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he was ultimately confirmed in his position. For former soldier and activist Yehuda Shaul, founder of Breaking the Silence, Hardal strategy follows a progressive logic: delegitimization of secular elites, institutional takeover, then ideological normalization.
PROVIDENTIAL READING OF HISTORY
Hardal supporters interpret recent events — judicial reform, October 7 attack, Gaza war, Donald Trump’s return to the White House, resurgence of antisemitism — as steps in a historical process toward national redemption. For a Yom Kippur War veteran, witness to a hierarchical, secular army, these changes represent upheaval: “I no longer recognize the institution I served. Religious and ideological influence on military decisions is now palpable, and the army is no longer merely a tool of national defense but an instrument of messianic vision.” This providential dimension is central to the movement: politics and war are no longer solely strategic but an extension of a religious and historical design.
*Author is a former member of the UN senior staff