In an interview with Channel 12, Yaalon said he will not apologize for comments made in this regard last week. “The interference of politicians is corrupting the Armed Forces (IDF),” he said, referring to members of the far-right cabinet that leads Israel.

The former Defense Minister was a legislator for the Likud party, headed by current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and under him he headed the Defense portfolio before resigning in 2016, citing a deep distrust of the right-wing politician.

In an interview with Democrat TV, Yaalon said that the IDF is carrying out an ethnic cleansing in Gaza. “There are no other words to describe the situation because the ministers themselves are talking about how the Strip will be cleansed of Arabs,” he expressed.

Asked by Channel 12 whether he wanted to retract that statement, he reiterated that his words were said on purpose to sound the alarm. However, he tried to exonerate the IDF by again accusing politicians of planning the strategy.

The former minister also supported an order by the International Criminal Court to try Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes in Gaza. “I think that morally some bad things have happened from our point of view,” he stressed.

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