The commander of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reserve service accused Netanyahu of abandoning reserve duty on Tuesday, after Netanyahu on Monday assailed reservists who had threatened to skip reserve duty.
In a letter published on Tuesday and shared by Channel 13, Rizman referred to past statements by Netanyahu and coalition members against reservists who had threatened not to report for reserve duty if the judicial reform was passed, including statements by Public Diplomacy Minister Galit Distal Atbaryan who referred to reserve service pilots as “a bunch of weaklings.”
The accusations, according to Netanyahu, are “completely false.”
“Let’s discuss you as a reserve combatant,” Rizman wrote. “Danny B. of hallowed memory revealed to me that he assigned you a mission as part of your unit’s reserve duty during the First Lebanon War. The assignment was not to your satisfaction, so you “dumped” him and vanished.”
Rizman then referred to his time as Netanyahu’s reserve service commander, stating that while his unit “bowed under the burden” and the rest of the reserve soldiers performed 40 to 70 days of service per year, Netanyahu “performed an insignificant number of reserve service days, so I removed him from the unit’s force.”
“Unlike you, the reserve soldiers you criticize ‘grind’ their reserve service days without excuses or exaggerations, and they are not ‘disobedient.’ You are insubordinate. You refuse to halt the IDF and the assault of democracy “Rizman concluded his remarks.
Netanyahu calls the commander’s letter a “complete fabrication.”
The office of Netanyahu responded to the letter on Tuesday afternoon, labeling the allegations “a complete fabrication” and stating that Reizman was never Netanyahu’s commander in reserve service.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu jeopardized his life multiple times in firefights during the war of attrition in the Suez Canal and numerous operations for Israel’s security. He was even injured during the operation to liberate the Savannah plane’s hijackers “reported his office. “As a reservist, Prime Minister Netanyahu returned from his studies in the United States to participate in the Yom Kippur War, and he returned from his studies abroad a year later to enlist for reserve service.”
Netanyahu’s office noted that he was appointed Israel’s envoy to the United States a month before the First Lebanon War, and the war itself broke out on the eve of his departure.
“In preparation for his political mission, Prime Minister Netanyahu arrived at his unit and shortly thereafter went on a special tour of the Chouf Mountains above Beirut. From there, he traveled directly to Washington, where he stood alongside Moshe Arens at the vanguard of Israel’s difficult political and propaganda struggle throughout the duration of the war.”
Netanyahu accuses Israel’s reserve forces of bolstering its adversaries.
On Monday, during a speech at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu attacked reserve forces who had threatened not to report for duty in protest of the judicial reform, accusing them of endangering national security and encouraging Israel’s adversaries.
During his IDF service, Netanyahu served in the Sayeret Matkal special forces.