The “Bennett 2026” party sent a pre-lawsuit warning letter on Sunday evening to the Likud party and “Meluchadim News,” accusing them of defamation against party candidate Keren Terner Eyal.

The Likud and government members had attacked Bennett for adding Terner Eyal to his party list, saying that she was active in the notorious leftist anti-government Brothers in Arms organization, which had called for widespread IDF refusal in the months before the October 7 massacre.

A statement from the party stated: “Keren Terner was never a member of the ‘Brothers in Arms’ organization and was never involved, in any way, in calls for refusal to serve.”

“After October 7, a civilian emergency operations center was established, which assisted tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers, and reservists when state systems collapsed. It was not political in nature and received support from across the political spectrum for its vital work during one of Israel’s most difficult moments. We will not allow Likud to spread false and poisonous lies. We will defeat the smear machine and repair Israel.”

It should be noted that Bennett’s statement that the humanitarian work carried out by the Brother in Arms organization after October 7 was “not political in nature” may have been true for some of the volunteers, including Terner, but, according to Channel 12 journalist Amit Segal, the actions of the organization’s leaders were politically tainted even in the days after the October 7 massacre.

Earlier this year, after Democrats chairman Yair Golan announced that one of the leaders of Brothers in Arms, Omri Ronen, was joining his party, Segal posted a video revealing the attempts of  Brothers in Arms to whitewash its calls for IDF refusal before the October 7 massacre.

“Five days after the war broke out, the Brothers in Arms organization, which was not fond of me and vice versa, called me to invite me for a tour of its headquarters,” Segal stated.

Segal said that he happily agreed to the request, with the goal of using his influence to encourage unity during that harrowing time. And afterward, at the request of one of the Brothers in Arms leaders, Eyal Naveh, he “held his nose” and published a post in support of the organization.

Segal noted, “I have to note that I’ve been at many headquarters, and I’ve assisted many volunteer organizations, and I’ve never seen an organization that was so obsessed with public relations, branding, and publicity, as Brothers in Arms. Many people support giving to others secretly. Brothers in Arms supported ‘giving secretly’ as long as everyone knew about it. That’s why the sandwiches they distributed were branded, and the volunteers always wore Brothers in Arms T-shirts.”

Segal added that he regretted posting in support of the organization when he later realized its true intentions. “Well, as it turned out, the goal for Naveh and his friends at Brothers in Arms was less to help the public and more to whitewash their reputation and remove their sin of calling for IDF refusal,” he said.

“All this was an attempt to erase that crime of mass IDF refusal pre-October 7, when Naveh yelled out the names of the IDF units that would refuse to serve, the call to break apart the people’s army, and the threat to harm state security, and the confirmation that his actions did indeed harm Israel’s security.”

Segal concluded: “I have news for you, Naveh, it will never be erased.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)