A recent investigation by Haaretz has renewed scrutiny of the growing influence of religious Zionism within Israel's military after officer cadets described what they said was a right-wing ideological shift within the army's training system, raising fresh questions about whether it has contributed to genocidal rhetoric and policies in Gaza .
Central to the report was a lecture by former Israeli reserve general Ofer Winter, who allegedly told officer cadets there were "no uninvolved civilians in Gaza" and used his platform to criticise former Israeli military chiefs of staff Gadi Eisenkot and Herzi Halevi.
Israeli military regulations prohibit political or religious activity in training programmes.
Winter later told Haaretz he had presented cadets with two schools of thought regarding Gaza's civilian population: that everyone in Gaza supports Hamas, or that Gazans are themselves victims of the group. He argued both ultimately led to the same conclusion – the emigration of Gaza's Palestinian population.
Speaking to The New Arab , Professor Yagil Levy, head of The Open University Institute for the Study of Civil-Military Relations, said the controversy reflected a much longer ideological transformation within the Israeli military.
However, Levy argued that the principal force behind that shift was not religious Zionism as a whole but the Hardal (national ultra-Orthodox) current within it, which he described as "an exceptionally well-organized minority, unlike any other Jewish group in Israel".
"The critical turning point was Israel's 2005 disengagement from Gaza and the evacuation of the Gush Katif settlements," Levy said. "For the Hardal sector, these events were widely perceived as a betrayal by both the state and the military."
Levy said the Hardal movement's principal vehicle for reshaping the military had been its network of pre-military academies (mechinot), which had produced a growing share of religious officers. He said the movement had also acted as "an organized lobby" to advance graduates of its institutions into the senior officer corps, describing it as "a pattern of collective mobilization unmatched by any other social group in the military".
He said the movement responded by expanding its network of pre-military academies, encouraging graduates to enter the officer corps and promoting religious officers into senior command positions. It also sought to increase the Military Rabbinate's influence over military education while reducing the relative role of the traditionally secular Education Corps.
According to Levy, these changes transformed not only the composition of the officer corps but also its culture.
"The clearest illustration of this is the ethos of revenge," he said, arguing that ideas once largely associated with the Hardal movement entered the military mainstream during the war in Gaza.
Levy said religious narratives increasingly framed the conflict in theological terms, helping to erode distinctions between civilians and combatants.
"This also legitimized the claim that there are no innocent civilians in Gaza," he said.
Levy argued Winter became the defining symbol of that transformation.
The former commander of the Givati Brigade during Israel's 2014 war on Gaza was the first graduate of the Bnei David pre-military academy in Eli to command a regular infantry brigade and later attain the rank of brigadier general.
During Operation Protective Edge, Winter drew national attention after issuing a battle order invoking God before combat. After twice being passed over for promotion to major general before leaving active service in 2024, he became a cause celebre for Israel's religious right, whose supporters argued he had been sidelined because of his religious convictions.
Levy said Winter subsequently "became the symbol of a new type of religious commander" who combined military leadership with religious conviction and represented a vision of decisive victory over military restraint.
Yair Dvir, spokesman for Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem said the trends identified in the Haaretz investigation reflected a broader shift in Israeli discourse.
"During Israel's genocide in Gaza, a view that no longer distinguishes between civilians and combatants - and instead seeks the wholesale destruction of Gaza, including through mass killing and starvation - has become increasingly entrenched in Israeli public discourse," he told The New Arab .
Dvir said the dehumanisation of Palestinians had spread beyond sections of the military into the political leadership, media and wider public.
Levy argued the consequences had become increasingly apparent during the war on Gaza.
"In previous wars, there was still a public debate in Israel over the extent to which soldiers should be put at risk in order to respect the immunity of enemy civilians," he said.
That debate has now disappeared, he argues, saying "the killing of Gazan civilians no longer provokes controversy and is met with indifference".
Israel's war on Gaza has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians and wounded over 173,000 others, while Israeli forces continue to occupy over 60 percent of the Strip despite a ceasefire that formally took effect in October 2025.