Does the IDF's own ethical code claim it is the most moral army?

No — the IDF’s own ethical code never claims it is the most moral army; that slogan comes from politicians, not the official document

The phrase “most moral army in the world” appears nowhere in the IDF’s written ethical code. It is a slogan used by Israeli political and military leaders, not a claim the official document makes — so anyone citing the code to prove the “most moral army” claim is misreading it.

The code itself, the official “Spirit of the IDF”¹, grew out of the 1930s doctrine of “purity of arms” (tohar ha-nesheq) and was drafted by philosopher Asa Kasher around 1996 — reportedly, per Ruth Manor, to counter Refusenik soldiers refusing to serve in the occupied territories. Its “Human Life” section mentions only soldiers’ lives, never noncombatants’, subordinating life to the mission; its core values defend “the State, its citizens and its residents” — not the other side’s civilians (Institute for Palestine Studies²).

Criticism of the army’s morality goes deeper: Kasher and Amos Yadlin’s 2005 code of ethics for the “fight against terror” explicitly prioritizes Israeli soldiers’ lives over Palestinian noncombatants’, breaking with the Fourth Geneva Convention (Palquest³). Judge the army’s morality by what its documents license, not its slogans.