Likud minister: Former top officials backing reservist protest should ‘rot in prison’

Regional Cooperation Minister David Amsalem of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party claims that the Israel Defense Forces is seeing a “rebellion” in its ranks, telling Army Radio: “In any normal army, you treat rebels like rebels should be treated.”

Amsalem castigates IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and Air Force chief Tomer Bar over the thousands of reservists, including many pilots, who have said they will stop their volunteer duty in protest of the government’s judicial overhaul.

“This is happening on their watch,” Amsalem says. “This will enter the history books. People will learn in 20 and 30 years who the chief of staff was and who the Air Force chief was and what happened.”

He says public figures backing the anti-government protests should be arrested and imprisoned for life.

“One of the Shin Bet’s jobs is to act against the undermining of state institutions,” he claims. “The head of the Shin Bet needs to arrest [former Supreme Court president] Aharon Barak, [former prime minister] Ehud Barak, [former IDF chief of staff Dan] Halutz and their ilk today, and I believe they should rot in prison until the end of their lives.”

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid reacts, saying: “The IDF commanders and fighters aren’t rebels, they’re wonderful Israeli patriots keeping us alive. But what would you call a minister whose life mission is to divide the country, to inflame hate and violence and racism, to corrupt the public service with jobs for associates, and to lead us to civil war? If this isn’t a rebellion and treason against the state, what is?”