Less than three weeks after the IDF froze the reserve service of Ron Sharaf, one of the leaders of 'Brothers in Arms' and the leader of the calls to stop volunteering for the IDF - the IDF summoned his partner in these calls, Eyal Naveh, in his place. This was reported today (Sunday) by senior political commentator Amit Segal.
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The IDF was forced to freeze the reserve service of Sharaf, a lieutenant colonel in the reserves in the General Staff Patrol, and did so with dragging its feet and after long months of refusing to take steps against him.
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Sharaf serves in the reserves as the commander of the formations for Sayeret Matkal. It now appears that Sayeret has since hired Eyal Naveh, Sharaf's partner in the leadership of Brothers in Arms and who stood by him in calls not to report for reserve service, to serve as the formation leader.
Chief of Staff Halevi then defined the calls as "a serious attack on state security." According to Segal, the two encouraged non-reporting for reserve service even within the IDF's own Sayeret Matkal.
Sharaf's service was frozen at the same time as a similar measure taken against reserve officer Hezi Nechama - but this time due to his call, as a civilian, for the use of greater military force in Gaza.
Segal notes that almost the entire leadership of the Brothers in Arms organization is a former member of Sayeret Matkal, and Sayeret - including the last two commanders of the Intelligence Directorate, Aharon Haliva and Shlomi Binder - did not take any steps against them.
The last time, in an unprecedented act, the IDF spokesman refused to respond for ten days to the question about Sharaf's continued reserve service, and even then - when they finally announced a freeze, the army made sure to simultaneously freeze the reserve service of reserve officer Hezi Nechama.
Segal emphasizes that Nehama's reserve service is now frozen due to calls as a citizen for more military pressure, while Naveh continues to be available for the reserves despite calling for mass non-compliance, and he is training the next generation of Sayeret Matkal servicemen.
This time too, despite repeated requests, the IDF spokesman is not responding to him.
However, Segal wrote: "The IDF spokesman, probably not through his fault but through the cover-up attempts of the General Staff Patrol and the Intelligence Division, has once again refrained from responding to a question about the organizers of the failure to report and their service in the patrol for many days.".
Defense Minister Yisrael Katz, in response to the publication, ordered the cancellation of Eyal Naveh's call-up to reserve service. "Anyone who called for mass non-appearance and refusal to serve is not worthy of training the next generation of IDF fighters. The same law must apply to everyone.".
Amit Segal responded: "The IDF spokesman is an efficient unit that is a pleasure to work with, dedicated, immigrants and southerners. Therefore, the fact that the only two queries out of hundreds that were not answered (didn't delay, simply didn't answer) deal with the service of the organizers of the wave of refusal in the General Staff Patrol, shows that the problem is not with them, but with the thick umbrella of protection that the Patrol provides, and above it, the head of the Military Intelligence Service, Shlomi Binder, to the heads of the 'brothers in arms', most of whom are former members of the Patrol.
""This is inconceivable: They organized a mass refusal to volunteer, especially in the patrol, the Chief of Staff determined that this severely harms the security of the state, and still under this Chief of Staff, everything is being done to protect them even today. The Minister of Defense did well to put an end to this.".
