Rabbi Zvi Tau, president of Yeshivat Har Hamor, has attacked Member of Knesset Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home) following Smotrich's article in the Besheva Hebrew newspaper calling for the heads of yeshivas and mechinot (pre-military preparatory yeshivas) to delay the enlistment of their students in the Israel Defense Forces in response to the IDF's steps against religious soldiers.
The rabbi was quoted on Channel 2 Television as saying, "The IDF is excellent. The IDF gives its soul, unlike one politician who opened his mouth and said we would stop enlisting. Gentlemen, that's not us." He continued, "I am afraid that provocateurs will come to say such things and this will cause even greater forms of destruction. It will only add more fuel to the fire and weaken the people of Israel and the State of Israel and the IDF."