The Israeli army's chief rabbinate has a controversial approach when it comes to providing religious guidance for the troops.

The army rabbinate produced a booklet titled Go Fight My Fight: A Daily Study Table for the Soldier and Commander in a Time of War, especially for Operation Cast Lead in Gaza. This booklet was given to soldiers preparing to enter the Gaza Strip.

The military conduct advocated has little in common with rules of modern warfare that are in compliance with international law. Cruelty is lauded as a "good attribute." The Jewish sage Maimonides is quoted as saying that "one must not be enticed by the folly of the Gentiles who have mercy for the cruel (the enemy)".

Religious texts made available to Israeli soldiers draw on the teachings of an ultra-Zionist named Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, head of Ateret Cohanim seminary in Jerusalem. Aviner without any embarrassment, compares contemporary Palestinians with the Philistines of the Bible.

This is what he has to say on the subject:

"Is it possible to compare today's Palestinians to the Philistines of the past? And if so, is it possible to apply lessons today from the military tactics of Samson and David? A comparison is possible because the Philistines of the past were not natives and had invaded from a foreign land ... They invaded the Land of Israel, a land that did not belong to them and claimed political ownership over our country ... Today the problem is the same. The Palestinians claim they deserve a state here, when in reality there was never a Palestinian or Arab state within the borders of our country. Moreover, most of them are new and came here close to the time of the War of Independence."

A group of ex-Israeli soldiers who created an activist group named Breaking the Silence, claim that the army rabbinate has been encouraging Israeli soldiers to disregard international laws of war that protect civilians.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz points out that text made available to Israeli troops "steps blatantly into politics, sounds racist and can be interpreted as a call to challenge international law when it comes to dealing with enemy civilians."

In Daily Torah studies for the soldier and the commander in Operation Cast Lead there is the statement: "[There is] a biblical ban on surrendering a single millimeter of it [the Land of Israel] to gentiles, though all sorts of impure distortions and foolishness of autonomy, enclaves and other national weaknesses. We will not abandon it to the hands of another nation, not a finger, not a nail of it."

In addition to the official publications made available through the army rabbinate, extreme right-wing Israeli groups also managed to get leaflets and messages into IDF bases. One such flyer sings the praises of Baruch Goldstein, who massacred unarmed Palestinians in Hebron. It is attributed to a group affiliated with Rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburg.

The Israeli Human Rights Organization Yesh Din has called upon the government to remove Brigadier General Avichai Rontzki from his post as chief army rabbi.