IDF Chief Rabbi Brigadier-General Avichai Ronsky is under fire from the Israeli left once again, this time for being quoted as saying that anyone who exhibits mercy to Israel�s enemies in the battlefield will be damned.

The rav made his remarks last week in an address to the Karnei Shomron Hesder Yeshiva, bringing down a quote from the Rambam. He explained that during wartime a soldier must have his entire heart and soul in the battle, and one may not exhibit mercy to those who wish to eradicate us.

Rabbi Ronsky was a guest speaker at a hachnasas sefer torah at the yeshiva, in memory of Yosef Fink z�l, a hesder soldier who disappeared in the 1986 battle of Sultan Yakoub. Finks body was returned to Israel in a prisoner exchange deal.

He praised the IDF performance during Operation Cast Lead, and cited the Yad Hashem that was evident during the difficult counter-terror offensive.

(Yechiel Spira � YWN Israel)