For more than a year now, the IDF finds itself deeply involved in a different kind of battle, the battle over Israel’s identity. 

This is a battle between Israel’s secular liberal Left and its religious conservative Right.

The army was supposed to stay out of this socio-political struggle. There’s nothing more damaging than a politicized army, but the IDF has nevertheless adopted the liberal agenda lock, stock, and barrel.

The latest manifestation of this came in the form of promoting of gay marriage. 

The army seized the opportunity provided by International Family Day (February 26) to present on the official website of the Israel Air Force (IAF) a blatantly “politically-correct” set of families, including a single-parent and a gay family.

The IAF site proudly featured Captain Adir Gabbai and his partner Dean. The caption accompanying the photo of the gay couple reveals that they served in the same unit in the IAF, and that they are now “newlyweds.”

Nor is this the first time the army has promoted such ideology.

According to Arutz 7, “the IDF … has been intensively promoting gay and transsexual soldiers in recent years, alongside the never-ending campaign promoting combat service by women, which involves lowering the standards for acceptance into combat units.” The report added that since 2015, the military has adopted a gender-blurring ideology.

Responding to the IAF’s Family Day ad, Rabbi Haim Navon wrote on Facebook that “though everyone has the right to live as they wish … no one has the right to impose upon us new definitions of marriage and family.” The IAF reacted by belittling Navon and his Facebook remarks, resulting in the rabbi closing access to his account amidst an avalanche of curses and threats.

Unfortunately, instead of maintaining its traditional role as the people’s army and staying out of politics, the IDF has either decided or simply stumbled into accepting an ideology that divides Israeli society.