After the Beit Dreinoff complex in Beit El was razed in compliance with a Supreme Court order, MK (Bayit Yehudi) Moti Yogev stated “It is charlatanism and audacity of the court. We must take a D9 [bulldozer] to the Supreme Court. It is time to put the judiciary in place and we must nip the dog’s wagging tail and show who is the sovereign authority.”

The comments from Yogev, a retired IDF colonel, elicited the ire of many elected officials, including MKs from the Zionist Camp party. The condemnatory statements came from the right-wing camp too as elected officials quickly distanced themselves from his harsh criticism of the Supreme Court, Israel’s kodesh kedoshim.

Yogev on Wednesday night stood firm, explaining he stands by his words. Amid calls to remove him from Knesset and launch a police investigation against him for violating laws prohibiting incitement to violence, Yogev on Thursday morning 14 Menachem Av told Israel Radio that “It is possible I should not have said a bulldozer should be used against the Supreme Court, reiterating how he felt the court’s ruling regarding the Beit El buildings was not just.

Former Supreme Court President Professor Aaron Barak stated he is not certain if Yogev’s statements are indeed “incitement” a defined by the law, opting to add “The High Court of Justice is not for or against settlements, but simply in favor of the rule of law”.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)