Opposition MPs Slam ‘Fascist’ Bill Targeting Golan Democrat Leader for Allegedly Defaming IDF
During a heated debate in the Knesset’s Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee, opposition lawmakers denounce “fascist” legislation to strip former top security officials of their rank for allegedly defaming the military.
“It is a fascist law,” declares MP Yesh Atid and former Mossad deputy director Ram Ben Barak during a shouting match with coalition lawmakers, whom he accuses of “trying to silence criticism.”
“You are a fascist government,” he declares, prompting Likud MP Osher Shekalim to shout, “Shame on you.”
Yesh Atid MP Mickey Levy, a former senior police official, questions why ministers with criminal convictions, such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, should be able to decide to penalize officers.
“Is this a fascist country or a democracy?” ask.
Critics are dubbing the legislation the Yair Golan bill because it is widely seen as targeting the president of the leftist Democrats party. Last May, Justice Minister Yariv Levin called on the IDF to revoke the Golan’s military rank following his comment that Israel was killing babies in Gaza “as a hobby,” a comment that the former IDF deputy chief of staff later said was a criticism of “the most failed government in Israel’s history” and not the military.
Subsequently, Likud MP Ariel Kallner proposed a bill that would penalize senior security services officers for encouraging refusal to enlist in the IDF, asking reservists to stop volunteering, or “slandering” the security services, which passed a preliminary reading in the Knesset in December. These officers would be stripped of their military rank and privileges.
The bill states that if the relevant minister discovers that current or former officers of the IDF, Shin Bet, Mossad, Israel Police or other security agencies have engaged in such behavior, they may be demoted or lose their pensions or other benefits granted to veterans.
Golan, who previously dismissed the “little fuss over an unimportant law by an unimportant parliamentarian who wants to deny me rights,” writes in
“The north is collapsing, and they are persecuting the officers, persecuting the opposition, and abandoning the fighters and the State of Israel. This is a coalition of poison, desperation, and destruction. They can pass any crazy law they want; when this government is replaced, we will cancel everything,” he writes.