Public officials, businesspeople across the aisle – leave IDF out of politics

A number of influential public officials, businesspeople, and media personalities from differing political camps called jointly on social media on Wednesday to agree to a number of “basic principles” in order to prevent a recurrence of Monday’s events, during which far-right protesters broke into two IDF bases following the arrest of reservists accused of abusing a Hamas prisoner.

Participants included Mate Binyamin Regional Council chairman and Yesha Council head Yisrael Gantz; former director -general of the Prime Minister’s Office during the Lapid-Bennett government Naama Shultz; businessman and philanthropist Yisrael Goldschmidt; Mivtach Shamir Energy CEO and former deputy PMO director- general Lior Farber; National Unity Secretary-General and former mayor of Ra’anana Eytan Ginzburg, and media strategist and social activist Itay Ben Horin.

What were the principles presented?

The first principle, according to the text, was that “alongside and following the government’s responsibility, we as citizens must also do some soul-searching over our part in how the country reached its current situation. Soul-searching also includes taking responsibility for mistakes and not repeating them.”

The second principle was, “The war against the enemy that rose up against us requires determination and decisiveness. We are recruited to strike at our enemies everywhere, and with necessary force. Out of loyalty to the law, our values, [and] to the Jewish and democratic state – we will not lose our humanity for a moment or give up on the moral compass that directs us, even in the heat of battle. This is a deep and necessary component of the victory we are striving for.”

The third principle was, “We are committed to place the IDF completely outside the limits of protests, even if we believe it to be a just protest, and therefore: We do not condition service or reserve duty, do not involve the IDF in protests, and will not be part of bodies that do so; security forces are never physically assaulted, and speech remains within the limits of the law; IDF bases are never to be turned into areas of protests of any kind; within military service, there is no room for protests, and military command’s authority is accepted; any protest will be carried out without uniforms or weapons. In conclusion, the IDF is outside political arguments. As much as it sounds like a cliché – all of Israel are responsible for each other.”

The call came after protesters on Monday, including at least two MKs and one minister, broke into the Sde Teiman base where the reservists had been arrested, and after dozens of protesters also broke into the Beit Lid base where the reservists were being held.

Eight of the nine reservists in custody were meanwhile remanded for five more days.