Activist Threatens to Sue Benny Gantz Over Alleged Claim of Refusal to Serve

Protest activist Moshe Radman has sent a pre-lawsuit warning to National Unity leader Benny Gantz, after a passage in Gantz’s new autobiography, “We,” attributed to Radman a call for refusal to serve. Radman says he never called for refusal and is demanding that the publication be corrected.

The dispute centers on page 263, where Gantz wrote that Gadi Eisenkot feels closer to “people like Moshe Radman, who called for refusal,” than to Avi Dichter, who once headed the Shin Bet. Radman’s lawyers say this is a false and harmful allegation. They argue that describing a public figure as supporting refusal can damage his reputation, public standing, and personal image, and they note that because the book is being sold to the public, the harm is ongoing rather than a one-time publication.

The legal notice also says the claim goes beyond opinion and is a “false, serious and defamatory factual attribution,” portraying Radman as acting against military service and basic civic and security values. In parallel, Radman attacked Gantz on social media, writing: “Let’s see whether Gantz the hero removes his immunity and stands behind the false statement in his biography,” and warning that if he does not, “he will pay after he leaves the Knesset and immunity is removed automatically.”

The row comes against the backdrop of the 2023 protest movement against judicial reform, when Radman became one of the leading figures in the high-tech protest camp. During that period, there was a broad public debate over reserve soldiers’ calls to stop volunteering for service. After the threat became public, Gantz’s circle circulated a video in which Radman discusses suspending service in response to the reform battle. In it, he says that if a person fears a “government of destruction” that is dismantling the country, “How can he wake up the next day and serve that same government and risk his life for it as if nothing happened?” He also said, “This government is going to crush the future of all of us and the Zionist vision. These officers and soldiers enlisted to serve the Jewish and democratic State of Israel. Once the state is not democratic, this is not Israel.” Gantz’s allies say the clip supports the book’s claim, while Radman insists he never urged refusal.