Army rethinking IDF rabbi appointment over rape remarks

IDF Gadi Eisenkot will discuss the appointment of Colonel Eyal Karim as the army’s next chief rabbi following renewed coverage of a written statement he made and later clarified, that apparently condoned rape of non-Jewish women during wartime.

Citing defense establishment sources, Haaretz newspaper says the army was unaware of the comments and failed to conduct a full background check on Karim. The sources say Eisenkot may be forced to reconsider the appointment.

According to Haaretz, the head of the IDF Personnel Directorate Major General Hagai Topolanski called Karim today over the comments.

In a statement that surfaced in 2012, Karim said: “Although intercourse with a female gentile is very grave, it was permitted during wartime (under the conditions it stipulated) out of consideration for the soldiers’ difficulties. And since our concern is the success of the collective in the war, the Torah permitted [soldiers] to satisfy the evil urge under the conditions it stipulated for the sake of the collective’s success.”