Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu referred Sunday morning to his statement in a Channel 2 interview regarding his telephone call to Elor Azariya's father and stressed that he had not intended to make a comparison between bereaved parents and Azaryia's parents.
"I am sorry if my words were misunderstood. I did not intend to compare the suffering of bereaved families, suffering which I personally understand well, to the situation of other parents who are in distress. There isn't and cannot be any comparison," wrote Netanyahu on his Facebook page." The prime minister's brother, Yoni, was killed in the daring IDF commando rescue of Israeli hostages in Entebbe in 1976.
Netanyahu raised a furor when he was asked in his interview to discuss the telephone call he made to Charlie Azariya, father of Elor Azariya who is accused of shooting a terrorist after he had been neutralized.
"I called Elor Azariya's parents like I call the parents of soldiers who were killed or missing in action," said Netanyahu.
Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who recently began a campaign to return to public consciousness and loses no opportunity to castigate Netanyahu, exploited the statement to attack him this morning.
"Whoever compares Elor Azariya to the courageous soldiers of Israel and to the missing fighters is a confused and fearful person who has lost the last of his judgment or decided to try and ruin the ethical foundations of the IDF," wrote Barak on his Facebook page this morning.