'You will not burn down the country': Bereaved father criticizes anti-government protests

Hagai Lober, the father of Sergeant (res.) Yonatan Lober, who was killed in battle in the southern Gaza Strip in December, delivered a message on Sunday to the families of hostages who have amplified their protests against the government in recent weeks.

In an interview on 103FM radio, Lober responded to the ongoing events: “You will not burn down the country. If I have to fight you, I will. Millions of people look at you in shock, and they only remain silent out of respect.”

“When I stood in front of the open grave of my son Yonatan, I swore on his grave that neither I nor others could go back to October 6. Of course we will continue to disagree. I do not speak on the essence, but rather the tone that much change. When Saturday nights come around and I see these protests, it feels like another knock at my door. People are making a huge mistake, they think that because they are in pain, they are allowed to destroy the country. Instead, we will establish a moral and valuable force. It has already risen, and this force comes from the masses that will not resort to the same methods that I am speaking out against.”

According to Lober, "this nation has moral, values. At the next demonstration where they block roads, I will stand there with a big sign with Yonatan's picture and I will ask them, 'Did Yonatan die in vain?' And if they want to come down and block the roads, let them do it over my body, let them run over me, let them kill me, let me join Yonatan. It will not happen in this country."

"I spoke with those from 'Brothers in Arms.' They sat at my house at the shiva [mourning period] and told me never again, and that they still think that Bibi is a danger to humanity, to the entire universe, but that they would not return to that path. And now, they are writing to me that they are right. They were polite for two, three, four months before the change. What a shame and disgrace that is."

"Who are they fighting against? Against me. It's not Bibi, it's very easy to say Bibi. It's avoidance."

When speaking of Brothers in Arms, Lober said they are "against me. Against a bereaved father who voted for the right. In my opinion, Yonatan was killed because of the Oslo Accords. Yonatan was a young child during the disengagement and we were dragged away like the protesters who weren't dragged away, that's why he was killed, because of the disengagement. This is my opinion. So what? So I'm going to demonstrate against them? I scream at them 'shame'? You held back for three months? Four months?"

Speaking out against other bereaved families

He also noted that "Controversy is a wonderful thing. They think we should offer a Palestinian state, give Hamas Gaza, and that the hostages are the most important thing. They do not see the dispute in this."

"'Brothers in Arms' wrote to me today that this is a 'non-violent protest.' This is violence. Shutting down the economy is violence. At this time, it is disintegrating, it is breaking down."

He said that they may express their opinion freely, but he draws their line at "burning down the country."

"I am speaking against the bereaved families who do this. I am allowed to speak on this, as is everyone else in Israel, even if they did lose their son, even if they did not send their sons to fight. As citizens of this country we are allowed to do this."

"Their pain does not create ownership over the discourse. I am supposed to speak at the hostages square this coming Saturday evening and I will speak wherever I am invited, and it is perfectly fine that they think we should return each and every terrorist to Gaza - but if the families of the hostages stand up and say - 'we will burn down the country,' every citizen of this country has the right to speak against it and say that they are 'against the statements of the families of the hostages.' One doesn't even have to keep saying in the same breath that they are in favor of releasing them - it is that clear, it is that simple," Lober clarified.