Israel's Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers is the country's most sensitive period. At this time, Israelis forget about the politics and polemics that tear the nation apart and wrap themselves in the mantle of collective grief. But this year, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon would not be deterred. He used his speech at the Memorial Day ceremony on May 11 to further his vociferous public dispute with the rest of the right-wing figures and political leaders in Israel, saying, "Woe to us if we lose our way … and our hallowed values that have accompanied us for generations. Compromising these values may well create a slippery slope to the abyss." Ya'alon added that Israelis must understand the limitations of power, "meticulously safeguard our purity of arms and our humanity, not lose our heads, … eradicate racism, violence, verbal and physical attacks on women and exclusion of the other."

This speech went over relatively peacefully. The following day, Israel celebrated its independence with fireworks, flags and cookouts. The air force put on an air show and filled the country's skies. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu surprised everyone when he announced that he supports a return to the Israel Defense Forces' tradition of holding military parades in Jerusalem. The IDF parade tradition ended on Independence Day in 1973, only a few months before the Yom Kippur War broke out. Netanyahu's initiative to bring the parade back was viewed as another right-wing ultranationalist gesture to mollify the Israeli electorate that has been steadily migrating to the right in recent years.

But Ya'alon held back until after the holiday, when the real bombshell publicly exposed the bitter conflict between himself and the prime minister. On May 15, after the conclusion of the Independence Day festivities, the defense minister hosted the traditional reception at the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv. The yearly event is put on for IDF officers, higher-ups in the defense establishment, ambassadors and foreign military attaches in Israel. Ya'alon meticulously planned his course of action. He embarked on a determined and scathing verbal offensive against the prime minister, other right-wing ministers and the Likud — everyone who has been waging a polite war of attrition against Ya'alon.

Ya'alon meticulously repeated all the principles of ethics, values and purity of arms that the IDF is supposed to strictly uphold and then added his own statement and personal directive: "Tonight I repeat and again demand from you and your subordinates: Continue to say what is in your hearts. Do this even if your words do not reflect the mainstream opinion, even if they differ from the concepts and stances adopted by the senior command or the political echelons. Do not worry, do not be deterred or hesitate. … The IDF was and remains the State of Israel's key melting pot. We must guard it carefully and not allow it to be infiltrated by violent, inciting agents or those who try to influence its soldiers. In recent months we find ourselves struggling against a radical minority that acts on the ground and in the social networks. Part of it has even infiltrated our society's central stream, undercover and camouflaged, and it attempts to influence the IDF's image and values."