The Prime Minister dismissed the letter sent by a group of former Air Force soldiers, saying their claims no longer impressed the public..
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded on Friday to the protest letters sent recently, supposedly in the name of reservist soldiers, and claimed that it is political propaganda from a noisy minority.
“Again the same letters,” said Netanyahu, “Sometimes in the name of pilots, of Navy veterans, and so on. The public no longer buys into their propaganda lies that are so impressive in the media. These letters were not written in the name of our heroic soldiers. They were written by a small group of weeds, who are operated by foreign-funded organizations with one goal – to overthrow the right-wing government.”
He claimed this is not a widespread phenomenon: “This is not a wave. This is not a current. This is a small, noisy, anarchistic, and disconnected group of retirees – most of whom haven’t served in years.”
Netanyahu added that the actions of these individuals encourage Israel’s enemies: “These weeds are trying to weaken the State of Israel and the IDF, and they are encouraging our enemies to harm us. They have already sent a message of weakness to our enemies once. We will not let them do it again.”
The Prime Minister clarified that there would be no tolerance for refusal: “The citizens of Israel have learned the lesson – refusal is refusal, regardless of what fancy name is given to it. Anyone who encourages refusal will be dismissed immediately. The IDF fights, the IDF wins, and we are all behind it.”
After the protest in the Air Force and the Navy, another protest was published today by reservist officers in the Intelligence Corps, active personnel, and retired officers, calling on the government to recover the hostages even at the cost of stopping the fighting in Gaza.
In a statement from the Intelligence Corps officers, similar in content to the other letters sent, it was written, among other things: “We identify with the serious and worrying assessment that at this time the war mainly serves political and personal interests and not security interests. The continuation of the war does not contribute to any of its declared goals and will lead to the deaths of hostages, IDF soldiers, and innocent people. We are concerned about the erosion of reservists and the increasing rates of non-compliance with reserve duties and are worried about the future impacts of this trend.”
It was also written that “Only a deal can return hostages in peace, while military pressure mainly leads to the killing of hostages and endangers our soldiers. Every day that passes jeopardizes their lives, every additional moment of hesitation is a disgrace.”
Additionally, about 1,900 faculty members in higher education institutions signed a petition supporting the Air Force letter. “At this time, the war mainly serves political and personal interests and not security interests,” they wrote. The petition was signed with the same words as the letter from the Intelligence Division: “Every additional moment of hesitation is a disgrace.”
