After mass weekly rallies, protesters block road outside Knesset speaker’s home
Ex-general tearfully urges Likud ministers to ‘be brave’ and oppose overhaul
Retired general Amiram Levin makes a tearful plea to Likud ministers to “be brave” and oppose the coalition’s judicial overhaul legislation while addressing protesters in Tel Aviv.
Levin, who at various times headed the IDF Northern Command, commanded Sayeret Matkal, and served as deputy director of the Mossad spy agency, accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of wanting to hand the country over to criminals.
“Bibi wants to give the keys to the country to a group of awful ministers, some of whom are convicted criminals and draft dodgers,” Levin says. “To ministers who encourage massacring Palestinians subject to our rule, to a racist minister that loots the state budget and blocks funds for Arabs, just because they are Arab. To a justice minister that wants one authority and no independent judiciary.”
“We won’t let Bibi and his group of ministers turn Israel into a dictatorship. We won’t allow it and won’t stay silent until we win,” he adds, using the prime minister’s nickname.
Levin issues a direct plea to some Likud ministers: “I turn now to [Defense Minister] Yoav Gallant. When you think about the security of Israel, think about your friend Yossi Kurkin that fell in battle. Who would you want to go to war? His successors, or the draft dodging gang of [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben Gvir, [Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotrich, and [Housing and Construction Minister Yitzhak] Goldknopf?”
Levin also calls for Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter to remember his friends who fell in battle, asking: “Who will you choose as your partner in building a better future in your beloved country? Their successors, or in the gang of lawbreakers and warmongers who evaded the IDF in every way?”
Finally, he gives a similar proposition to Economy Minister Nir Barkat, asking if he prefers to continue the way of former paratrooper commanders, “or would you prefer a group who discriminates against women, the LGBT community, and throws rocks at IDF soldiers?”
“I call to you from here, this is the battle of our lives, but this is also the opportunity of our lives — be brave. Here and all across Israel you will find hundreds of thousands of those succeeding yours and our friends,” he says.