(IsraelNN.com) Defense Minister Ehud Barak reacted Sunday to the “Kotel mutiny” in which soldiers at a swearing-in ceremony protested the IDF's eviction policy, saying that he viewed it “very gravely.”

"However,” he added, “Yesha Council Director Pinchas Wallerstein's sharp reaction against the deed was in my eyes the right voice of the settlers in Yehudah (Judea) and Shomron (Samaria).”

In an interview on Voice of Israel government radio, Wallerstein called the soldiers' action “unforgivable.” 

Rabbi Elyakim Levanon, Head of the Hesder Yeshiva at Elon Moreh and a member of the Judea and Samaria Council, voiced support Saturday for the soldiers and demanded that Wallerstein resign his post.

"I call upon every soldier to reveal his views in public,” Levanon urged. “Clear value-oriented statements by soldiers are a clear sign of the general public feeling against the eviction of any Jews from their home.”

The Yesha Council is made up of local government chiefs in Yehudah and Shomron and claims to represent the Jewish population in those regions.