Gadi Eizenkot
Gadi EizenkotFlash 90

Israeli Attorney Genera, Dr. Avichai Mandelblit, ordered the police to open an investigation on suspicion of incitement to violence following a pro-Azariya-clemency demonstration Tuesday outside the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, in which cries, "Gadi be careful, Rabin's looking for a friend" were heard. The calls were a reference to IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot.

Mandelblit said that inciting statements are unacceptable, whether the targets are judges, army officers, law enforcement personnel, or anyone else. "The law enforcement system will operate in a determined and uncompromising manner with respect to incitement to violence," he said.

Only a handful of the demonstrators chanted cries against Eizenkot. The demonstration was held outside the Kirya army complex in Tel Aviv following the conviction of soldier Elor Azariya for killing a wounded terrorist.

Eizenkot has been absorbing harsh criticism from the right for the past two days, following a statement to the effect that a boy of 18 who was drafted into the IDF is not "everyone's child," as protesters said, relating his case to their own sons in the IDF. According to the Chief of Staff: "This type of talk is confusing and harms the military. One can have warm feelings towards soldiers and take care of them - but on the other hand they are 18-year-old men who were inducted and are required to perform tasks and to risk their lives to protect civilians and to attack the enemy."