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)