Rabbi Rafi Peretz was sworn in Thursday evening as the chief rabbi of the Israel Defense Forces in a ceremony at the Western Wall of the Temple in Jerusalem. Regarding the Middle East conflict, Rabbi Peretz said, "We need to understand that everything happening around us is really war over Jerusalem."
Referring to Monday's interception of a Gaza-bound flotilla, outgoing IDF Rabbi Avichai Rontzky said, "The victory is in the return of national honor."