Benjamin Netanyahu’s eldest son is under the spotlight once more after he shared a video showing an Israeli Defense Forces soldier calling for mutiny against the nation’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant unless there is ‘complete victory’ over Hamas.
In February, Yair Netanyahu was widely criticized as he was pictured soaking up the sun outside of his Miami apartment while his country was at war with the terrorist organization in Gaza.
As of April, Yair, was reportedly still in Miami where he was working in the Israeli consulate. Yair, referred to as a ‘right-wing agitator’ by multiple sources, shared this latest video on Telegram.
The unnamed IDF soldier in uniform, armed and with his face covered tells the camera: ‘We’ll show you how real Jews win.’ The video was posted just days before the IDF’s disastrous air strike in Rafah that killed innocent civilians.
‘We will listen to one leader, and it is not the defense minister or the chief of staff – it is the prime minister. Think carefully about who you plan on handing over the keys to,’ the soldier continues.
In the clip, the unnamed IDF soldier, shown here, tells the camera that the country’s reservists will only listen to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Exclusive DailyMail.com photos showed Benjamin Netanyahu’s son Yair, 32, loafing around a luxury Florida condo in February while Israeli reservists are fighting the ongoing war in Gaza
Like Yair’s father, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, shown here
The Times of Israel’s Emanuel Fabien reports that the soldier has been interrogated by the military police on suspicion of mutiny, incitement to mutiny, not following orders, and other offenses. The solider has been dismissed from reserve duty.
According to Haaretz, the video first appeared on social media on Friday on the account of journalist Yinon Magal.
The reporter said that when the video was originally posted by the soldier, it included the caption: ‘This is how we think and feel in Gaza.’
The clip begins in a bombed out building covered in graffiti, made up of quotes by extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane. The man begins by talking directly to Yair’s father.
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‘We reservists do not intend to hand the keys [of Gaza] over to the Palestinian Authority … [or] to any Hamas, Fatah, or other Arab entity. The reserve soldiers are behind you and we want victory.’
The man says that he estimates that there are 100,000 IDF reservists who feel similarly to him and that they will refuse to stand down if ordered to do so by the IDF Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi or Yoav Gallant.
‘I am telling you, Mr. Yoav Gallant – if we do not continue until victory, 100,000 reservists will remain on the fence and we will call residents of the State of Israel to come to Gaza under our protection,’ the man goes on.
‘You cannot win a war. Either change your tune and realize that we want to win, or that we will only go with the prime minister.’
‘You wanted a military coup? So I’m telling you, we are reservists who cannot go home – we’ll show you what surrender and victory are, and we’ll show you how real Jews win.’
Yair responded to the controversy created by the video in a separate Telegram post.
‘In light of the reactions to the reserve video circulating on the networks, let’s sort out the question of what a military rebellion is: An army that announces that in times of dispute it will obey only the government and the prime minister is not a rebel but on the contrary, it is an army that obeys the law,’ he wrote, according to NBC News.
As the clip goes on, the soldier tells Gallant to ‘change your record, change the record and understand that we want to win, or we will go only with the prime minister.’
Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli strike where displaced people were staying in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Monday, May 27, 2024
Palestinians search for food among burnt debris in the aftermath of an Israeli strike
A Palestinian boy is seen crying as he watches the fire tear through the displacement camp
‘Only with whoever decides that we should win, we will follow him. Here I tell you, did you want a military coup? We are the reservists who can no longer return home.’
‘We will show you what a decision is, we will show you what a victory is, and we will show you how real Jews win,’ he went on.
If found guilty of sedition or the publication of sedition, the soldier in the video could be sentenced to five years in prison. The IDF has officially denounced the content of the video.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid later accused Netanyahu of spreading video deliberately, reports The Jerusalem Post.
Last week, Gallant, along with Netanyahu, was the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant.
While Netanyahu and his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, do not face imminent arrest, the announcement by the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor was a symbolic blow that deepened Israel’s isolation over the war in Gaza.
The court’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, accused Netanyahu, Gallant, and three Hamas leaders — Yehya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh — of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel.
Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders condemned the move as disgraceful and antisemitic. U.S. President Joe Biden also lambasted the prosecutor and supported Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas.
Netanyahu called the prosecutor’s accusations against him a ‘disgrace,’ and an attack on the Israeli military and all of Israel. He vowed to press ahead with Israel’s war against Hamas.
Biden said the effort to arrest Netanyahu and Gallant over the war in Gaza was ‘outrageous,’ adding ‘whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas.’
Hamas also denounced the ICC prosecutor’s actions, saying the request to arrest its leaders ‘equates the victim with the executioner.’
Netanyahu has come under heavy pressure at home to end the war.
Thousands of Israelis have joined weekly demonstrations calling on the government to reach a deal to bring home Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity, fearing that time is running out.