Yair Golan Rejects Blaming Fallen Soldiers After Naor Narkis Remarks

Democrats chair Yair Golan sharply criticized social activist Naor Narkis after comments that sparked outrage over his remarks about religious Zionists and hesder soldiers. In response to ynet, Golan said fallen fighters who died defending Israel “do not need to defend themselves before anyone,” adding that they “reported when called up, carried the security of the state on their shoulders and did their part to the end.”

Golan stressed that combat does not include sectors or labels. “In the battlefield there are no sectors, no hesder soldiers, kibbutzniks, city dwellers or moshav residents, there are IDF fighters,” he said. He added that any attempt to connect a political debate, no matter how important, to the self-sacrifice of soldiers killed in battle is “improper” and does not reflect either his values or those of the party.

He also drew a line around how the national debate should be handled. “We will conduct the arguments about the character of Israeli society and the sharing of the burden with determination, but outside the cemeteries,” Golan said. “Against those who paid with their lives for all of us, we are required to show humility, respect and gratitude. Our duty is to remember them, embrace their families and never blame the fallen for their deaths.”

The comments came after Narkis caused a storm in an interview with i24NEWS, where he said of religious Zionist fighters killed in the war since October 7, “If they had done full service like secular people, maybe they would not have fallen so many times.” He also said religious Jews are “not all nationalist” and called them “the sector that evades service the most, apart from the ultra-Orthodox,” and later argued that hesder soldiers gain less military experience than those serving full service.