a few points…
To say that the medina exists because of “Kochi V’otzem Yodi asoh Es Hachayil Hazeh” i.e. because of the might of the IDF IS kefira and 100% wrong.
However… those who say there was a Jewish yishuv and Torah learning going on in Eretz Yisrael BEFORE the medina are ALSO wrong on a few counts. For one thing (as was mentioned above) there were always arab attacks on Jews in those days such as the most ‘famous’ one – the massacre in Hevron in ’29. Secondly, would ANYONE here suggest that the gedolim IN Eretz Yisrael NOW should tell all the Jews to leave E.Y.? I don’t think so.
So… we have to deal with what the REALITY is NOW. The reality is that without the IDF, ALL the Jews in E.Y. would be slaughtered in a matter of days, and that’s chilonim AND chareidim and everything in between. If you will say that it is the chareidim and chareidi gedolim in E.Y. that give everyone their protection, and NOT the IDF, then i would pose the following question… Do you think that the Jews (even the chareidi Jews) are on a level to merit the neesim g’luyim that would be necessary to keep them alive WITHOUT the IDF?!?
To me it is clear that Israel exists today ONLY with the help of HKB”H and he uses the IDF as his shluchim, since we (or at least enough of the Yidden in E.Y.) have enough merit for neesim nistarim (i.e. protection via the IDF) but NOT enough merit to depend TOTALLY on the neesim g’luyim (there HAVE BEEN b.t.w. plenty of isolated cases neesim g’luyim too!) that would be needed without the IDF.
Bottom line… Everything comes from HaSh-m, but His shluchim who put their lives at risk to protect ALL the Jews in E.Y. deserve our respect, and those who were killed al kidush HaSh-m, ha’Am, v’haAretz deserve for us to memorialize their ultimate sacrifice.