Far-right pundit gives unapproved lecture to soldiers at IDF base
Military says Eliyahu Yosian’s appearance at a base in the West Bank was an ‘error,’ not approved through correct channels
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
Far-right former intelligence analyst and TV pundit Eliyahu Yosian delivered a lecture to soldiers at an army base in the West Bank on Sunday, despite not being on a list of approved lecturers.
The Times of Israel learned that Yosian was invited by commanders to lecture before reservist soldiers at the Samaria Regional Brigade. During the lecture, Yosian made controversial and political remarks.
In response to a query, the IDF said on Monday, “The lecture was not approved through the accepted channels.”
“This was an error, and the relevant procedures have been clarified,” the military said, adding that it has a list of approved lecturers and “lectures are delivered by a variety of people from the public.”
A military source confirmed that Yosian is not on the list of approved lecturers.
Yosian, an Iranian-born former intelligence analyst who now conducts research on Iran and the Islamic Revolution, is known for his extreme views.
After the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led onslaught in southern Israel, Yosian declared that “there are no innocents [in Gaza], there are 2.5 million terrorists,” and that Israel should have killed “at least 50,000 Gazans” within the first hours of the Hamas attack.
He has, in the past, also called secularism and liberalism a “cancer in the body of the Jewish nation.”
In June, Yosian said former Supreme Court president Aharon Barak’s body should be burned upon his death, and that he should not be buried in Israel, as it would be “a desecration of the Jewish state.”
“His body must be burned in this world and his soul in the next,” he said of the ex-top justice, who has long been reviled by many on the far-right for his activist approach during his tenure.
Yosian has lectured on army bases several times in the past.
In November 2023, Yosian, while speaking to soldiers at a base in the Jordan Valley, was taken off stage by a brigade commander after he made extreme comments. In June, a lecture by Yosian before soldiers was nixed after Channel 13 news contacted the IDF.
In both cases, the military said the lectures had not been approved through the proper channels.
The Times of Israel Community.