Political storm over Dan Halutz's comparison of rabbis to ayatollahs

In depth

Former IDF chief of staff Dan Halutz compared, in a podcast interview, Israel's Haredi leaders to the ayatollahs in Iran. According to Channel 14, Halutz said "I see no difference between the ayatollahs in Iran and the rabbis in Israel" and mentioned Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch and the rabbis of Shas. United Torah Judaism reacted with fury, according to Maariv.

MK Yaakov Asher responded with a harsh personal attack. According to Channel 14, Asher told Halutz: "A pitiful man like you, all you cared about was calling the bank to sell your shares", referring to the shares affair from the Second Lebanon War. According to Arutz Sheva, the affair concerns the sale of Halutz's investment portfolio at the outbreak of the war.