TEL AVIV – Major Israeli pop stars are slated to take part in a solidarity concert organized by the family of an IDF soldier who shot and killed an already-neutralized Palestinian terrorist last month.
Megastar Eyal Golan, rapper Kobi Shimoni, a.k.a. Subliminal, and David D’or will perform at the event in Rabin Square in central Tel Aviv.
“The soldier is like the son of the entire nation of Israel and on Tuesday I will be coming to support him and his family,” Eyal Golan posted on Facebook.
Several lawmakers, however, were quick to criticize the move.
MK Erel Margalit (Zionist Union) slammed Golan’s participation in the event.
“Eyal do not go from a national singer to a nationalistic singer. I call on you Eyal to cancel your performance that weakens the IDF and that does damage to the judgment of the commanders,” Margalit wrote, adding that Golan was aiding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approach of allowing the masses to decide the fate of the soldier.
Meanwhile, Zionist Union MK and former justice minister Tzipi Livni told Channel 2 that the event was a farce.
“Justice will be done in accordance with the values of the IDF in the courtroom, and not in the town squares,” she said.
“What Israel needs right now are not artists singing what the crowd wants to hear in the square, but rather a leader that stands together with the IDF, its commanders and values, and the legal system,” Livni added.
The soldier, currently in detention on an army base, is expected to be indicted for manslaughter on Monday.
The incident in which the soldier broke IDF protocol and shot an incapacitated assailant in the West Bank city of Hebron has dominated the headlines for several weeks, with Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot harshly condemning the act.