National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has picked the wrong fight. After an IDF soldier was sentenced to 30 days in military prison for wearing an unauthorized “Messiah” patch, Ben Gvir accused IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir of taking an unnecessary and disproportionate step that undermines the fighting spirit.
The reported facts are straightforward: Zamir encountered the soldier during a West Bank visit, after troops had reportedly been warned to maintain discipline and follow orders; the soldier was jailed, and commanders above him were also penalized.
The soldier’s courage is not in question. Israeli soldiers carry a heavy burden, often with extraordinary bravery and under conditions most will never experience, but bravery does not make the uniform private property. In a professional army, and especially in a people’s army, the uniform belongs to the state, not to an individual soldier, faction, party, rabbi, influencer, or minister.
Breaching principle
That is the point Ben-Gvir’s intervention obscures. The dispute is not about whether one may believe in the coming of the messiah. Religious faith is woven into Israeli military life, from battlefield prayers to bereaved families, from religious commanders to soldiers who draw strength from the Torah.
The issue is whether a soldier may turn an operational uniform into an ideological billboard after being instructed not to. Once that principle is breached, it will not stop with one patch.
One soldier will wear a messianic slogan, another a partisan slogan, another a revenge slogan, another a private symbol of contempt. Very quickly, the IDF will stop looking like the army of the state and start looking like an aggregation of armed subcultures.
It is an operational, legal, and strategic risk.
Israel is not fighting only with rifles, drones, artillery, and intelligence. It is fighting in a visual environment in which a single photograph can travel faster than a military briefing and outlast a battlefield success.
There were the social media posts by Israeli soldiers in Gaza showing troops playing with women’s lingerie and mannequins taken from Palestinian homes. The images rightly drew global condemnation and potential legal scrutiny.
Then there are the hidden dangers of soldiers’ posts, including selfies and field images that can expose soldiers to enemies, harassment, and legal jeopardy abroad.
In southern Lebanon, recent images involving Christian statues inflicted a fresh diplomatic and reputational wound, with soldiers jailed after incidents involving a Virgin Mary statue and, separately, a crucifix.
These hand Israel’s enemies exactly the visual evidence they seek: not proof of Israel’s military necessity, but images suggesting arrogance, indiscipline, religious contempt, and impunity.
Some of those images are misleading, stripped of context, or weaponized by bad-faith actors. That makes discipline more urgent, not less. A state that knows every image will be used against it cannot afford to manufacture needless ammunition for hostile campaigns.
Eroding discipline
Zamir appears to understand this. He warned senior officers of eroding discipline in the multi-front war, citing unauthorized patches alongside looting and the destruction of the statue of Jesus in Lebanon.
After the patch incident, he reportedly told commanders that they must live by the norms they expect of their soldiers, and that the IDF Code of Ethics is inseparable from victory. That is leadership.
The IDF’s ethical framework is clear. The “Spirit of the IDF” lists statehood, responsibility, personal example, human dignity, purity of arms, and discipline as its core values.
It states that soldiers are subject to the law and government of the State of Israel, must act in accordance with orders and IDF values, and must maintain their humanity in combat and routine times.
These are not slogans for education corps ceremonies. They are the spine of a military that asks civilians to entrust it with the gravest authority a state possesses: that of taking life.
Ben Gvir is right about one thing: fighting spirit is precious, but he misunderstands what sustains it. It is not built by telling soldiers that a politician will shield them from the chain of command when they ignore orders.
It is built on competence, trust, lawful authority, mutual confidence, and the belief that everyone in uniform is bound by the same rules. Commanders need to know that instructions are not optional. The public needs to know that the IDF remains an army, not a political movement.
Of course, proportionality can be debated. Thirty days in military prison is a serious penalty. Military justice should be consistent, transparent where possible, and applied without ideological selectivity.
If soldiers who wear other unauthorized symbols, record humiliating videos, loot property, or desecrate religious objects are treated more leniently, the system will deserve criticism.
Zamir should therefore pursue this campaign against indiscipline across the board, not only when an incident reaches social media or triggers a political storm.
The answer to uneven enforcement is better enforcement, not surrender. One critical lesson since October 7, 2023, is that Israel pays a strategic price when soldiers behave as if they are performing for friends online rather than representing a state at war.
Every unnecessary image, every unauthorized slogan, every contemptuous pose, and every desecrated object enters foreign newsrooms, court files, diplomatic conversations, protest placards, and enemy propaganda feeds.
A serious country cannot permit that drift. A serious army cannot allow the uniform to become a marketplace for private messages. A serious chief of staff cannot watch standards collapse and call it morale.
Israelis can honor combat soldiers while still demanding discipline from them. The state owes its soldiers clear orders, competent commanders, proper equipment, political seriousness, and public gratitude. It does not owe them immunity from military law.
Zamir’s job is not to flatter soldiers; it is to command them. On this issue, he is doing exactly that.■
Andrew Fox is a former British Army officer, a senior fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, and co-host of The Brink podcast.