The army chief of staff on Friday hit back at far-right critics unhappy over his past remarks about the need for soldiers to show restraint in dealing with Palestinian attackers. In an interview with Army Radio, IDF Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot said that while he 'doesn't believe that the army or myself is under attack, there are some things [that have been said] that I can't ignore.' 'The public's trust in the IDF is central to the IDF's ability to actualize its purpose,' Eisenkot told Army Radio during a special pre-Passover broadcast honoring lone soldiers. 'Nonetheless, the IDF is not a democracy. It has rules and principles. It has a norm of behavior.' 'It is incumbent upon us as commanders to set a high moral threshold in order to delineate proper norms of behavior, even if they are unpopular,' the army chief said.
