Otzma Yehudit MK not responsible for spreading image of himself in south Lebanon, IDF says

MK Yitzhak Kroizer speaks during a protest against United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) outisde the agency's offices in Jerusalem, February 5, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
MK Yitzhak Kroizer speaks during a protest against United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) outisde the agency's offices in Jerusalem, February 5, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The military says a far-right Otzma Yehudit lawmaker who had been called up to the IDF reserves and then dismissed from duty after a photo circulated showing him posing with Hebrew graffiti in a home in southern Lebanon was not responsible for the image.

MK Yitzhak Kroizer was pictured surrounded by soldiers from his unit with “Office of MK Kroizer” spray-painted on one of the walls behind them.

In a statement, the IDF says that while reserve duties are frozen for lawmakers, an exception was approved due to the needs of a specific operation in Lebanon.

Initially, he was suspended for violating a commitment not to link his service to his public role.

His commander has since revealed that the photo was not taken and spread by Kroizer, and the head of the IDF’s Personnel Directorate gave the MK eight days of leave, to which he was entitled, according to the IDF.

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