At the start of the Religious Zionist Party faction meeting on Monday, Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich addressed Democrats Chairman Yair Golan's remarks about the Eli religious pre-military preparatory academy.
Smotrich condemned Golan's intentions to cut funding to the institution, and warned against Gadi Eisenkot forming the next government with the left and Arab parties: "Golan wants to close the Bnei David preparatory academy in Eli; yesterday, he clearly announced his intentions to stop funding this magnificent institution."
The Minister mentioned the alumni of the academy who fell in Israel's wars, noting that over 50 have fallen on the battlefield, 30 of whom fell in the current war. "As far as Golan and his partners on the left are concerned, Emmanuel Moreno, Roi Klein, and Eliraz Peretz of blessed memory are only good for dying on the battlefield," Smotrich said, "Not for living their world of values here and expressing them in the public sphere." He added that the academy has produced generations of warriors who are role models for society.
During the meeting, Smotrich conveyed a warning to the Israeli right regarding the possibility that Yair Golan would be appointed as defense minister in Gadi Eisenkot's government. He called Golan the "noticer of processes," referring to the former Deputy Chief of Staff's 2016 Holocaust Remembrance Day address in which he compared Israel to 1930's Germany, as well as the "natural partner" of the Arab parties, and mentioned that he had persecuted the religious Zionist public in the past. The Finance Minister predicted that the left would follow through on its promises without compromise and that the anti-Netanyahu camp talks about a covenant of servicemembers, but in fact will lead to the "dismantling of a factory for IDF fighters."
According to the Minister, harming the pre-military preparatory academies and the hesder yeshivas will be the first step of a wider plan. He claimed that senior European Union officials and well-funded foreign agents built contacts with the opposition to bring about the dismantlement of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. The minister revealed that at the heart of the plan is the evacuation of 100 new communities and 160 farms in the area, and concluded: "We are building a security zone, and they will destroy it."