Israeli soldier arrested over ‘military coup’ video

A political row has broken out after an Israeli soldier filmed a video calling for a rebellion against the IDF Chief of Staff and Defence Minister, declaring loyalty only to Benjamin Netanyahu.

The reservist soldier in his rebellion video. Picture; X.

An Israeli soldier is reportedly under arrest after allegedly filming a video calling for a rebellion against Israel’s military chief of staff and defence minister, declaring loyalty only to Benjamin Netanyahu.

In the video, which Mr Netanyahu’s son briefly posted on social media, the reservist soldier warned of a mutiny unless the government pursued “complete victory” over Hamas.

The armed and masked soldier vowed to refuse any orders from Defence Minister Yoav Galant, stressing that troops would only obey the Prime Minister.

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the video is for you. We reservist soldiers do not intend to hand the keys over to any Palestinian authority. We do not intend to give the keys to Gaza to any entity — Hamas, Fatah or any other Arab entity,” the soldier declared. “We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, you have 100,000 reservist soldiers that are ready to give their lives for the people of Israel. Ready to die. We lost everything, we lost our family life, we lost our livelihoods and we have nowhere to go. We will stay here, until the end. Until the victory,” the reservist soldier states.

He continues: “Our brothers were not murdered or raped for nothing. We want victory, a decision. Whoever harmed the people of Israel and our brothers we want to destroy him, and you, Mr. Gallant, cannot do that. Change the record or we’ll just go with the prime minister. You wanted a military coup – we’ll show you what a decision is and what a victory is, how real Jews win,” Israel media reports.

Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant (L) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Picture: AFP.

The video comes as Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant both face the prospect of international arrest warrants being issued against them, after the International Criminal Court applied for the warrants for alleged war crimes.

It will also deepen the growing divide in Israel’s war cabinet, which is at war with itself after

cabinet member Benny Gantz criticised Mr Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza and threatened to quit the government in June if he didn’t articulate a plan for ending the war and securing the enclave.

Mr Gantz’s criticism came after Mr Gallant publicly attacked the prime minister over the government’s failure to address a plan for post-war Gaza. Mr Gallant went on Israeli television to urge the Prime Minister to declare publicly that Israel had no plans to take over civilian and military rule in Gaza, adding that the rule of Gaza by Palestinian entities that aren’t Hama was in Israel’s interest.

As the political row burst into the open, politicians on the far right demanded Mr Gallant’s sacking, while Mr Gantz declared: “Gallant speaks the truth. It is the leadership’s responsibility to do the right thing for the country at all costs.”

The video has provoked another row, with politicians condemning Mr Netanyahu for his silence over the soldier’s remarks, claiming it shows he supports rebellion in IDF ranks.

The fact that his son Yair shared the inflammatory video before taking it down has deepened anger against Israel’s leader.

A senior official told Israel’s Channel 12 that Yair Netanyahu’s sharing of the video constituted “a clear call for rebellion against the IDF command.”

“The prime minister in his deafening silence, hour upon hour, backs up this grave act,” the official said.

Sooner after, the Prime Minister’s Office released a statement saying Mr Netanyahu had “warned many times about the dangers of the phenomenon of insubordination and the permissive attitude towards it.”

However Mr Netanyahu did not condemn the video itself. Mr Gantz took to X to urge him “to clearly and unambiguously condemn the sedition video and not to hide behind a laundromat of words”.

The IDF said it had opened an investigation into the video, “The behaviour documented in the video is a serious violation of IDF orders and IDF values, and constitutes a suspicion of criminal offences,” it said in a statement.