PM says Likud MKs wrong for berating families of fallen IDF soliders

In his first public statements on an incident that has drawn a chorus of condemnation from across the political spectrum, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expresses “regret” Sunday over Likud Knesset members who yelled at the bereaved parents of fallen IDF soldiers during a heated Knesset committee meeting last week.

“I would like to say a few words to the bereaved families,” Netanyahu says at the opening of his weekly cabinet meeting. “The entire people of Israel is united around you, who have lost what is dearer than anything for the sake of the security of Israel.”‘

Referring to the death of his brother Yoni Netanyahu, the sole Israeli soldier killed during the 1976 Entebbe raid, the prime minister says that he understood the “deep pain” that the families felt for their loved ones.

“As prime minister and the son of a bereaved family, I heard what was said last week in the Knesset in the heat of debate,” he says. “I regret that these remarks were made; an immediate apology was necessary and it is good that this was done.”