-- MK Moshe Arbel (Shas)

In Israel soldiers are not allowed to express political opinions or go to protests, can't get involved in election campaigning, or do anything else political. The soldier referred to expressed an opinion in favor of Ben Gvir and then was sentenced to 10 days in the brig. Ben Gvir criticized that, and Arbel is criticizing Ben Gvir for politicizing the IDF and its soldiers. When I first heard Arbel say this to Ben Gvir I had a funny thought. Shas and UTJ have used this recent election season and government forming period to equate the avreichim and yeshiva boys with the IDF soldiers, specifically regarding budgets and subsidies, but also in the public discourse regarding their level of importance. So if the avreichim and yeshiva students are "equal" to IDF soldiers, maybe the avreichim and yeshiva boys should also be left out of the political discourse, and they should be not allowed to get involved publicly in politics....