Elad stood among the ruins of a Lebanese village and felt a deep disgust. He is one of five soldiers who spoke to reporters this week about the erosion of character within the Israel Defense Forces. "The feeling is that the IDF has become like an army of Vikings," one soldier told Haaretz. These men described a culture where looting is permitted to keep spirits high. Another soldier, named Or, admitted he stopped carrying his handgun because he feared the weight of the war would drive him to self-harm.

Military data now confirms this internal collapse. Sexual assault reports within the army have risen by 40 percent since the start of the current conflict. Officials attribute the rise to the mass recruitment of reservists without proper moral screening. The lack of military discipline has turned a defense of the homeland into a struggle for the soul of the soldier. In the field, three more soldiers were wounded by an explosive drone on Wednesday, including the commander of the 401st Brigade, Col. Meir Biderman. War always tests the limits of human decency, but when the leadership allows the pillaging of villages, the moral authority of the uniform is the first casualty.