Yossi Hadaria, father of IDF Sgt. Bar-El Hadaria Shmueli, who was critically wounded at the Gaza border. Photo: YouTube

The father of a soldier critically wounded at the Gaza border expressed outrage and anger during a phone call with former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, deriding Israel’s politicians for their approach to soldiers serving near the Strip.

Sgt. Bar-El Hadaria Shmueli, 21, is currently in critical condition in hospital after being shot in the head by a Palestinian terrorist during riots at the Gaza border wall. Considerable controversy has erupted over why the terrorist was not neutralized before shooting Shmueli, and why the rioters were allowed so close to the wall in the first place.

The Shmueli family had already expressed anger on Monday after Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called them and appeared to have forgotten Bar-El’s name.

N12 reported that during Netanyahu’s call on Tuesday, he told Bar-El’s father Yossi that “I know these are very difficult hours, and I want you to know that we embrace you.”

Yossi thanked Netanyahu, but then expressed deep frustration and anger toward Israel’s political class.

“When will you reach the conclusion in this country that our soldiers are not sitting ducks?” he reportedly said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s Likud, Labor, or Bennett who calls me; we have to put an end to this plague that’s wounding our soldiers.”

He asked Netanyahu why Israel’s politicians do not take “family responsibility” for their actions. “Come together as one and overcome this directly,” he said.

Yossi attacked what he saw as unclear rules of engagement for soldiers at the border, urging politicians to “decide whether to shoot or not to shoot.”

He had made a similar angry statement to Bennett, saying, “Coward, you don’t know how to make decisions.”