Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has banned Moshe Ya’alon, who served both as defense minister and IDF chief of staff, from participating in events on Israeli military bases at the request of a bereaved father, Hebrew media reported on Wednesday.
Katz’s decision came in response to a request from Itzik Bunzel, whose son IDF Sgt. Amit Buntzel was killed in action in the central Gaza Strip on Dec. 6, as well as Israel’s Im Tirtzu Zionist grassroots organization.
In their missive to Katz, Bunzel and Im Tirtzu wrote that Ya’alon is “the person who claimed that IDF soldiers are carrying out ethnic cleansing in Gaza, defined the war as a ‘war of deception’ and even hinted that he ‘hopes Israel will not send soldiers to murder babies in the Gaza Strip.'”
They also highlighted June 2023 remarks in which Ya’alon supported former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s call to break the law amid the government’s now-shelved judicial reform, saying, “If those who are responsible for the law enacted illegal laws—it is our duty not to obey.”
Bunzel on Wednesday night seemed to confirm Katz’s decision, sharing a Hebrew-language article about the move on his social media account.
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, of the right-wing Otzma Yehudit Party, also commented, stating, “Well done, defense minister.”
According to the letter, Ya’alon was invited to deliver a speech at the country’s prestigious National Security College, which trains the top brass of Israel’s security establishment, military and government.
“We do not understand what the graduates of the National Security College were thinking when they invited this despicable and inciting person, whose words were quoted around the world by Israel’s enemies and served as fuel for antisemites,” read the letter.
The missive stressed that the National Security College is “a military facility …. and not a private hall,” and that it falls under Katz’s remit.
Last year, then defense minister Yoav Gallant reportedly banned Barak from giving a speech at the National Security College due to his role in urging Israelis to refuse IDF reserve duty to protest the government.
Barak, a former Labor Party leader, was the IDF chief of staff from 1991 to 1995. He also served as defense minister in governments led by Ehud Olmert and Benjamin Netanyahu.
Following significant backlash over the invite, sources in the Defense Ministry told Channel 14 correspondent Yishai Friedman that “anyone who calls for refusal of any kind will not be part of the ranks of the IDF.”