Mrs. Ruchama Arbus spoke with Kol Chai Radio on Tuesday, explaining reports that her husband Aryeh, or the second soldier, Achiya Ovadia expressed remorse for their actions are simply untrue.

Aryeh and Achiya were involved in hanging a sign at the Kosel during a military ceremony, a sign objecting to the deployment of soldiers to remove Jews from their homes.

Ruchama explained that for one thing, Aryeh was punished for his actions, sent to prison, and the subsequent decision to oust him from the IDF is quite extreme.

When asked why Aryeh was ousted and Achiya was ‘only’ removed from hesder, compelled to serve 36 months as a regular soldier, she could not offer any plausible explanation, but stated without absolute certainty reports that Achiya apologized are simply inaccurate, adding the same holds true for Aryeh, who did not apologize for his actions.

Mrs. Arbus confirmed that prior to embarking on his sign stunt Aryeh gave the planned move thought, and he was aware such an action could land him a place outside the IDF, which it did.

She insists that if Aryeh is out, the IDF must take the same action towards the others involved in the waving of such signs, as well as the leftist soldiers who express their unwillingness to comply with orders that violate their beliefs.

Ruchama also questions the handling of the matter, pondering why an officer did not inform Aryeh of the decision, and why the two of them learned of the decision to expel him in the media, not via official military channels.

Mrs. Silvi Ovadia, Achiya’s mother stated that her son prefers being expelled from the military or spending the remainder of his service in prison, but she does not feel he is willing to serve the remainder of his time out of hesder, a soldier in “Ehud Barak’s army”.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)