The majority of Israeli Chiefs of Staff as well as the heads of the Mossad intelligence agency and the Shin Bet security service tend to be center-of-left politically. Why have 95 percent of all top security officials never supported a right-wing nationalist policy in the nation of Israel?
Right-wing ideology
Out of 13 Chiefs of Staff who entered Israeli politics, only one supported a right-wing ideology. That was Rafael Eitan, the leader of the Tzomet party. Twenty-seven generals served in politics, but only two were on the right: Rehavam Zeevi (Moledet party) and Avraham Yaffe. All the others were either centrist or left-wing. What has kept these generals and intelligence chiefs from Israel’s right-wing politics? Are they automatically left-wing radicals, anarchists and traitors, as right-wing politicians and their voters claim?
I think there’s more to it. The State of Israel “got up on the left foot” in 1948. And yet Israel was not “in a bad mood and grumpy” because of it. The biblical promise was fulfilled with left-socialist generals...
Become a Member
-
Read all member content
Get exclusive in-depth reports from Israel.
-
Get exclusive in-depth reports from Israel
Connect with Israel, right from your home.
-
Lift up the voice of truth and hope
Support Jerusalem-based Zionist journalism.
Already a member? Login here.
It is absolutely right that it is not a good idea to enlist young people around 18 to serve in an army. It used to be a cheap way to get a lot of disciplined but helpless casualties. Today it no longer makes sense. It would be better to get them into vocational or university training first – and then into military service. Any army would do better with those people. At the age of 22 or 25, nobody wants to get married or become a parent like in the old days. But at this age, everyone can better understand why and what they are doing.