The call, sent in a letter to Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, was issued by a number of prominent hardline rabbis, including Haim Druckman, the head of the Bnei Akiva religious youth group, Eliezer Melamed, the head of Har Bracha yeshiva and Yuval Sharlo, a head of a yeshiva in Petah Tikva which combines Torah learning with active IDF service.

"There is no war in the world in which it is possible to delineate entirely between the population and the [enemy] army, neither in the U.S. war in Iraq, the Russian war in Chechnya, nor in Israel's wars with its enemies." the rabbis wrote.

The rabbis' statement posed the question, "Should the IDF fight the enemy, if civilians [on the other side] will be killed, or should the IDF refrain from fighting, and thus endanger our civilians?" The rabbis quote the sage Rabbi Akiva in responding that "Our lives come first."

"Christians preaching 'turn the other cheek' will not cause us to panic, and we will not be impressed by those who prefer the lives of our enemies on our own lives."