Naftali Bennett
Naftali BennettIsrael news photo: Flash 90

Sixty-two combat officers and soldiers from elite units, friends and supporters of Habayit Hayehudi chairman Naftali Bennett, signed a petition of support for Bennett Sunday night, in the face of attacks on him by the Likud.

"We, as combat soldiers from elite units from the entire political spectrum, stand dumbfounded in the face of the organized offensive mounted by the Likud under Netanyahu, against our team comrade and commander," they wrote, in a petition published on Channel 10 television.

Over the weekend, a video sponsored by Young Likud hit the internet. It showed an edited version of the television interview in which Bennett appeared to support conscientious objection by soldiers who are ordered to evict people from their homes.

The video also featured audio of Labor party's Merav Michaeli calling on mothers not to send their sons into the IDF, followed by the narrator's voice warning that Bennett's "refusal to serve," coming as it does from the right wing, combined with Michaeli's refusal from the left wing, endanger Israel and its army.

Similar advertisements have appeared in newspapers.

Bennett has called upon Netanyahu to stop running the attack ads against him. "We served in the same unit," he said. "Don't fire inside the armored personnel carrier."