There is a danger of a military coup in Israel if the trend of right-wing figures refusing to serve in the military widens "and more and more religious Jews that answer to rabbis enter the General Staff," Labor MK Danny Yatom warned on Friday.
Yatom, a major general in the reserves and a former head of the Mossad, made his remarks at a discussion of Tzvi Emitai's book "Code Blue" at the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv. The book describes a situation in which the radical right gains control of the Israel Defense Forces and overthrows the government.
Yatom was asked if he believed a coup could happen in Israel. He answered that up until a year ago, the possibility did not occupy his attention, but that recent developments forced him to conclude that the danger exists.
Among the developments, Yatom cited "rabbis that call for refusal to serve and counsel soldiers not to return to their units, or that officers in the reserves say they will listen to the rabbis inciting rebellion." "We are standing before a new reality, and if we remain weak, there is such a danger," Yatom said.
For a growing number of soldiers, rabbinical decrees are more significant than army orders, according to Yatom "Religious soldiers are among the best fighters we have, but if the messianic ideology grows stronger among them, if soldiers really do not return to their units after Passover, it will be only the beginning, and the next step will be a coup," he added.
| That has to be stepped on hard. |
Major General Danny Rothschild (res.) expressed similar views, remarking that rabbis' calls to refuse orders made a military coup a real possibility. He said it was important to open a discussion on the matter among the public and the IDF, in order to prevent such an event.
| How 'bout jugging the rabbis involved and charging them with treason? |
But the chair of the Likud Young Guard, Yoel Hasson, called Yatom's remarks cheap populism. He said the remarks were incitement against draftees who risk their lives. He called for a complaint to be filed against Yatom in the Knesset's Ethics Committee. National Religious MK Zevulun Orlev called Yatom's remarks "incitement against the religious nationalist public, which has no need to apologize for its loyalty to the state."
|