Ministry of Defense: We will review the employment of the officer who "wants the ultra-Orthodox to die""

May 21, 2014   

Defense Ministry Director General Dan Harel promised today (Wednesday) to review the continued employment in the IDF of Lieutenant Colonel Nurit Laami - the officer who was recorded in a conversation with a service company representative saying that "she hates the ultra-Orthodox and wants them all to die.". The director general promised to address the matter during a meeting of the State Audit Committee in the Knesset, which discussed the Comptroller's report on the Ministry of Defense. MK Moshe Gafni claimed in the discussion that officers in the IDF and the IDF Radio station are engaged in serious incitement against the Haredi public. Gafni referred to Lieutenant Colonel Nurit Lamai, saying that she was only reprimanded and was even promoted to be a project coordinator in the City of Hospitals program in the Negev. According to Gafni, she must be fired: "An IDF officer who called an Ethiopian soldier a 'little nigger' was sent to a military prison, and a police officer who called Arabs 'sluts' was dismissed from the police force, while Aami was not only reprimanded - but actually promoted.". Gafni even told Harel that on Independence Day night, on the program on Galei Tzahal, the presenters called for "diluting the Haredim." "This statement was not in Germany, but in the military unit called Galei Tzahal of the State of Israel. This incitement will reach very serious areas. We are Haredi but not stupid. The Ministry of Defense cannot stand by.". Committee Chairman, MK Amnon Cohen (Shas), said: "The IDF, as the people's army, must allow all populations and sectors to feel comfortable in it, and therefore such statements must not be tolerated.". The Director General of the Ministry of Defense admitted that he was not aware of these cases, and promised to review them and respond as soon as possible to the committee and Gafni.