Right-wing rapper tells vets to return their Gaza War medal
Hatzel to Likudniks: I’m not such a bad guy.
By GIL HOFFMANUpdated: AUGUST 10, 2016 14:25Israeli rapper Yoav "HaTzel (The Shadow)" Eliasi(photo credit: Lahav Harkov)
Veterans of Operation Protective Edge should return the medal they received for participating in the Gaza war two years ago because it bears a map of Israel that does not include the Golan Heights, controversial rapper Yoav “Hatzel” (The Shadow) Eliasi wrote on Facebook on Tuesday.Eliasi urged his nearly quarter million Facebook followers to sign a petition urging the veterans to return the medal.“You don’t have to look too closely at the map on the medal to see that the Golan was erased from Israel for some reason,” Eliasi wrote. “I call upon IDF reservists to return the medal and the IDF to put out a new medal.”That was only one of the controversial statements Eliasi wrote on Facebook on Tuesday. He also complained that IDF soldiers gave a glass of water to a female terrorist.“Don’t forget to give her coffee and dessert, because you have to make sure to act humane,” Eliasi wrote. “What did she do anyway? She just tried to kill a soldier! Not too bad.”Eliasi also continued to insult MK Bennie Begin and his left-wing activist son Avinadav, and pushed for a death penalty for terrorists. To justify the death penalty, he posted a quote from a terrorist who killed a tourist because he thought he was Jewish.But in a conciliatory post, Eliasi wrote the Likud’s ministers, MKs and members, telling them that they should like him despite all the negative articles that have been written about him.“While you are dealing with the tasteless, damaging war against me, I am far from being your enemy,” he wrote the Likudniks. “The media and the Left are watching wearing 3D glasses, eating popcorn, and laughing from the divide and conquer strategy that is succeeding.”Eliasi wrote that left-wing leaders Isaac Herzog, Zehava Gal-On, Shelly Yacimovich, and Tzipi Livni were “enjoying the fire against him like pyromaniacs.” He wrote that he already brought people into the Likud and is cooperating with current members, so there was no reason to expel him from the party, as leading figures in Likud said must be done.“The saddest thing is I have been judged without a trial, without proof, and with so many lies that the press has spread about me,” he wrote. “I call upon you from here [on Facebook] to stop this unnecessary war and start working together! Only together can we win and return the nation’s trust to the Likud.”
Eliasi was part of one of Israel’s most successful hip-hop groups, TACT Family, led by rapper Subliminal, but is better known in recent years for making controversial political statements and taking part in violent demonstrations, many of which were counter-rallies against left-wing activists.He is associated with radical rightwing groups and figures, like Hebron activist Baruch Marzel, soccer hooligans La Familia, and anti-miscegenation group Lehava, and uses social media to spread his views, which have been criticized by many as racist incitement.