Fighters from the Regional Defense Brigades are expected to receive grants to reservists, according to senior government officials. After Israel Hayom reported on the discrimination against combatants, since they are not defined as such according to military procedures but as a unit with "first rear" status, the sources say that the issue is expected to be resolved.
Credit: Courtesy of the Etzion Infantry Battalion
In a recording given to the fighters, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich reassured the fighters: "We are dealing with this with the army and to the best of our understanding it will work out. The fighters in all sectors will be considered combatants and will receive all the grants."
A storm erupted after the publication in Israel Hayom earlier this week. A number of mayors in Judea and Samaria appealed to the relevant authorities to change the situation, including Samaria Council head Yossi Dagan and Binyamin Council head Israel Gantz.
Galant and Smotrich, tonight, photo: screenshot
During the day, the head of the Yesha and Gush Etzion Council, Shlomo Ne'eman, sent a letter to Defense Minister Yoav Galant, asking him to recognize the fighters of the regional battalions in Judea and Samaria as fighters. "As you know, the settlements in Judea and Samaria are at the front against a cruel enemy. In the same way, the armored personnel fighters stationed on this front are fighting it every day."
"Nevertheless, these fighters are currently defined in the IDF as home front soldiers only. It is an absurd situation that they are discriminated against and are not considered combatants, when in practice their operational role is consistent with the definition of a combatant in the Israel Defense Forces. We believe that this definition is inappropriate for their role and activity, and we hereby request that they be recognized as combatants in every respect. They deserve comparable conditions to fighters defending the security of the state in the south and north," Neaman wrote.
Former Knesset member Oren Hazan, a resident of Ariel, also demanded a change in the situation. "The security situation in Judea and Samaria was one of the most complex in Israel, and will continue to be so even after the war. Human lives have never been measured in money, but the exclusion of reservists in Judea and Samaria shows that when it comes to our settler lives and the fighters who protect us, money comes before human life.
Defense Minister Yoav Galant with reservists, photo: Ariel Hermony, Ministry of Defense
"I call on the Minister of Finance, who fought fiercely for the right of combatants to vote in elections, to fight equally at least for their right to equality and to ensure that they are rewarded with dignity just like any reservist in any other sector. We have already "gotten used to" that our blood is forbidden, that the rights of the fighters who protect us, may their blood be no less flushed," Hazan said.
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