Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari apologized Thursday after being reprimanded for taking a public stance on a bill currently being considered in Parliament.
This former marine commando, who has become a familiar and respected face among Israelis due to his frequent televised press briefings since October 7, criticized on Wednesday evening a bill aimed at preventing soldiers or members of the establishment from Defense are prosecuted for having transmitted confidential documents without prior authorization to the Prime Minister or to Defense officials.
Supported by two deputies from Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, the Feldstein bill, named after Eliezer Feldstein, former spokesperson for the Prime Minister and main suspect in an investigation opened for leaking confidential military documents, was adopted in reading preliminary to Parliament.
The bill is “very dangerous because it could allow any junior member of the IDF (the Israeli army, Editor’s note) to steal information on their own (…) this endangers people’s lives and the lives of fighters. It is dangerous for the army and for the security of the country,” Mr. Hagari insisted during his press conference on Wednesday evening.
Reprimanded by the Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi, Daniel Hagari apologized shortly afterwards in a message on prerogatives as spokesperson for the army, and I was reprimanded for this by the chief of staff,” he wrote. “The State of Israel is a democratic country and the IDF is subordinate to the political level,” he added.
Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the reprimand, saying Wednesday evening, in a statement from his services, that “in a democratic country, the army should not intervene in political affairs and certainly not criticize legislation.”
Daniel Hagari had already been called to order by the government in June after having described as “window dressing” the idea that we could “make Hamas disappear”, whose attack on October 7, 2023 on Israeli soil started the war in the Gaza Strip.
This former marine commando, who has become a familiar and respected face among Israelis due to his frequent points…
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