About 50 people took part on Monday evening in a demonstration of the Im Tirtzu movement held outside the home of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in Moshav Amikam, and called for the dismissal of reservists who announced that they would refuse to report for duty in protest of the judicial reform.
"Gallant Gallant wake up, don't give in to the refusers," the protesters chanted.
Matan Jerafi, national task coordinator of Im Tirtzu, said, "I served in the Golani Brigade and I continue to serve 30 days in the reserves every year. In a few weeks I will go again. I’ve never even dreamed of refusing on the basis of one political decision or another. We call on the Minister of Defense not to surrender and to immediately remove the refusers!"
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attacked the refusals at a meeting of his Religious Zionist Party on Monday, saying, "I see the discourse about refusals. Beyond the fact that these are mostly people who finished their reserve service a long time ago and their political refusal is meaningless, I think the discourse surrounding refusals is an improper and dangerous discourse."
"I want to congratulate Benny Gantz for joining the call against political refusal. The Israeli majority is completely opposed to manifestations of refusal. However, I regret the insistence [on the issue] of Yair Lapid, along with Mansour Abbas, Ahmed Tibi and Ayman Odeh, who are willing at any cost to knowingly dismantle Israeli society and trample any sign of solidarity and statehood."