Attorney Yair Nehorai is legal counsel for the group Rabbis for Human Rights. Together with the Israeli Alliance headed by Shai Cohen, he has raised about 60,000 shekels ($16,000) in a crowdfunding campaign to petition the Supreme Court to stop the state from funding the Bnei David Military Preparatory Academy in the settlement of Eli in the West Bank. They still have about a month and a half left to reach their goal of 200,000 shekels ($54,000). Their plan is to appear before the Supreme Court with thousands of testimonies, video clips and documents proving that the school poses a threat to Israeli democracy and that it plans to take over the Israel Defense Forces “as a springboard to the heart of Israeli society, in a process that would lead to a religious revolution and the establishment of a Jewish theocracy in all the Land of Israel. This is their messianic vision.”
The military preparatory academy in Eli was founded in 1988 by two rabbis, Eli Sadan and Yigal Levenstein. Two years ago, Sadan was awarded the Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievement by Education Minister Naftali Bennett, the chair of HaBayit HaYehudi.
The school is considered the most prestigious of the religious military preparatory academies, with graduates holding senior command positions in the IDF and the Israeli security establishment. Among its most prominent alumni is Brig. Gen. Ofer Winter, a decorated officer who was recently appointed military secretary to Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman. A former commander of the Givati Brigade, Winter caused a scandal during Operation Protective Edge when he distributed a “commander’s statement” to his troops, describing the operation in Gaza as a religious operation and the fulfillment of God’s will. He prayed for his soldiers, “God, Lord of Israel, make our mission successful, as we are about to battle for your people, against an enemy which curses your name."
Other senior IDF officers from the Eli academy include Col. Avi Balot, who was recently appointed military secretary to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Col. Ilan Dickstein, chief of the 91st (Northern) Division.
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