Amid growing threats of Israeli reserve soldiers refusing to report for duty In protest On the government’s judicial reform, a Likud lawmaker said in a special Purim message on social media on Monday that they could “go to hell”.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi took to Twitter on Monday night as Purim celebrations began across Israel to condemn the growing number of reservists from the main Israel Defense Forces who have forced the coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to break the law. threatened not to report for duty if he proceeded with that would fundamentally restrict the power of the High Court of Justice and assert political control over judicial appointments.
“And Mordecai will neither kneel nor bow down,” Karahi wrote, quoting a text from the Purim story. “There are times when one must stand firm against hegemony.”
“To those who refuse to serve, we say what Mordecai said to Esther: ‘For the Jews there will be profit and salvation from elsewhere, and your father’s house will perish.'”
“The people of Israel will manage without you and you can go to hell,” Karahi wrote to the reservists, who have voiced their fierce opposition to the coalition’s plans amid intense public protests that attracted hundreds of thousands.
“The [judicial] The reform movement will move forward. It was for this moment that we came to power,” Karhi said in reference to Netanyahu’s 64-seat right-wing, far-right and ultra-Orthodox coalition that was sworn in just two months ago.
“And Mordecai shall neither kneel nor bow down” – There are times when one must stand in one’s own eyes against lordships and rulers.
For insolent refusers, Esther was told in Mordecai’s epistle: “Profit and salvation for the Jews will arise from another place, and your father’s house will be destroyed.” The people of Israel will do without you and you will go to hell.
Reform movement. At such a time we have reached the kingdom. pic.twitter.com/m0paN4sT7j
, שלמה קראי – Shlomo Karhi (@shlomo_karhi) March 6, 2023
In response to the tweets, Yisrael Beiteinu MK Yulia Malinovsky, a member of the opposition, wrote: “Who are you really sending to hell? They are part of the nation and no part – they are the ones who support the state with their taxes, they serve in the army, they are the pillars of the State of Israel.
Malinowski then attacked Karahi directly, accusing him of being “an ungrateful and disconnected person”.
Earlier on Monday, Netanyahu said a growing incidence of reservists threatening to report for duty over his government’s judicial reshuffle posed a threat to the country, intensifying the government’s rhetoric against reservists Has been.
“Refusal to serve threatens the very foundation of our existence, and therefore has no one in our ranks,” Netanyahu told a news conference from a border police base in the West Bank settlement of Beit Horon, which stands at odds with the far-right national security. Shouldn’t be a place.” Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, also Likud.
Netanyahu said that “Israeli society has always condemned those who refuse to serve. It never allowed the Refugeers to gain a foothold.
“When you’re on the battlefield and look to the right or left, you don’t do it to check the political point of view of your neighbors,” the premier continued. “In our society, there is room for protest, room for opposing views, but no room for refusal to serve.”
From left, Police Chief Kobi Shabtai, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana at a Purim Megillah reading at a border police station in the West Bank on March 6, 2023. (Koby Gideon / GPO)
The remarks were sharpest against the Reserves, who have become more vocal in recent days as the coalition moves forward with its judicial legislation. Threats further divide Israeli society moved the army,
IDF chief Herzi Halevi is set to meet with pilots and officers from an array of reserve units this week to discuss mounting protests against the overhaul taking place within the army’s ranks.
Halevi warned Netanyahu that the growing spread of dissent in the army could harm its operational capabilities.
The top general will not hold a meeting with 37 pilots of the Israeli Air Force’s 40-member fighter jet squadron. announced A military source said they would not show up to their planned training session later this week in protest against the overhaul.
They were the highest-profile group in a growing list of IDF units, including some of the most elite, that have threatened members not to show up amid widespread opposition to the government’s plans, which critics say will undermine Israel’s democracy. , the economy and security will suffer.
Earlier on Monday, all the living former chiefs of the Air Force Letter Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant, expressing their concern over the government’s continued pressure to fundamentally restrict the power of the judiciary.
On Friday, dozens of senior pilots held an unprecedented meeting with the current IAF chief, Tomar Bar, in which they raised major concerns about their continued service in the reserve.
Also on Monday, President Isaac Herzog’s efforts to negotiate a controversial plan appeared to be making progress, “We are closer than ever to the possibility of an agreed framework,” Herzog said, without specifying who was involved in the talks.
