Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home) issued a sharp response to Defense Minister Liberman after Liberman wrote a letter to Rabbi Yigal Levinstein demanding that he resign his position as head of the paramilitary academy at Eli. Liberman also threatened to stop recognizing the institution as a paramilitary academy.
"A situation in which the Defense Minister acts like a commissar and dictates which words will be said and which will not be said is unnecessary and doesn't help in any way," said Ariel. "On the eve of Passover, I suggest that he backs off from this demand and allows Rabbis Levinstein and Sadan, the founders of the academy which Liberman is so proud of, to work in their own way and to bring the best boys to the IDF."
Ariel added that "my problem is with Liberman's behavior and he is the one who needs to maintain order [in the IDF] and should not be preaching to others. I hope that the crisis will end well and will not lead to unnecessary disputes.'
Liberman had sent a letter earlier to Rabbi Yigal Levinstein demanding that he resign his positions in the paramilitary academy. Liberman also wrote that if Levinstein did not resign he would use his authority to terminate Defense Ministry recognition of the yeshiva in Eli and the paramilitary academy associated with it.
Liberman also mentioned female soldiers who had served and fallen in battle in recent years, including Hadar Cohen hy'd (may G-d avenge her blood), a Border Policewoman killed in a shootout with terrorists in Jerusalem last year and Keren Tendler hy'd, a flight engineer killed in the Second Lebanon war.
"Besides a public apology, it would behoove a rabbi and leader to appear before the bereaved parents who lost all that is dear to them and apologize for what you said and especially for the insulting tone which implied that their Jewishness is in question,"wrote Liberman.
Last week, Levinstein criticized religious females who enlist in the IDF, stating that girls who go into the army with Jewish values leave it confused and with a distorted value system.
MK Betzalel Smotrich(Jewish Home) responded to Liberman's threats and stated that they were "populistic and meaningless insolence. There is no legal possibility of implementing such threats. Enough of shutting people's mouths."
Education Minister Bennett last week said he does not intend to comply with Libermans' demand and sarcastically told Liberman to eliminate Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh, as he had promised before becoming Defense Minister, and not start up with the Eli academy.
Bennett added that "the Eli academy had produced heros of Israel like Roi Klein, Eliraz Peretz, Immanuel Moreno and many other wonderful soldiers and citizens and will continue its regular activity. Whatever requires fixing will be fixed, especially regarding unfortunate statements, but without unnecessary threats."