Yair Lapid
Yair LapidYonatan Sindel/Flash90

Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid had some choice words for the newspaper Ha’aretz after the left-wing daily ran a ferociously anti-Israel article by left-wing extremist Gideon Levy.

The piece, entitled “After me, for murder” – a mocking satire of the IDF slogan “after me” – offers the same sort of anti-Israel, anti-IDF screed that Levy has become famous – or infamous – for. Other recent pieces by Levy include “Israel is reborn into a monster”, in which the writer accused Israel of being “a nation so corrupt” that it cannot “be brought back to the straight and narrow.”

In his latest article, Levy launches into yet another rant targeting the Israeli army.

“Kill, soldiers, kill. Nothing bad at all will happen to you if you blow away a young Palestinian with three bullets fired at short range – your officers and Yair Lapid will cheer you on.”

“Shoot stone throwers without any worry, shoot at everyone suspicious – so long as they are Palestinian. And let’s be clear: [that means] shoot to kill. Not to stop, not to wound, but to kill. The legendary [IDF] slogan of “after me [into battle]” has now become “after me, to kill children; after me, to murder”.

Lapid, who found himself the target of Levy’s slings and arrows, responded on Thursday, blasting Ha’aretz, the article, and its author.

“This is a monstrous text, [published by] a newspaper that long ago went completely off the rails. He even accuses me of killing in the article, but I’m willing to forgo my own honor. But I’m absolutely unwilling to forgo the IDF’s honor.”

“Anyone who portrays our soldiers as indiscriminate murderers is both knowingly lying and legitimizing violence against them. In all of military history there has never been an army that did more to maintain a high ethical standard in combat and purity of arms [than Israel], but Ha’aretz doesn’t care. We’re talking about a paper filled with the self-hatred of the radical left, and this article - like many others – is the paper’s way of legitimizing terrorism.”