The Israel Defense and Security Forum, which represents 20,000 Israeli reserve officers and soldiers, issued a sharp condemnation of recent statements by Tamir Pardo, a former Mossad director, which it called “pitiful and baseless.”

On Wednesday, Pardo told the Associated Press that Israel is enforcing an apartheid system in Judea and Samaria. “There is an apartheid state here,” Pardo told the AP. “In a territory where two people are judged under two legal systems, that is an apartheid state.”

The IDSF stated that given its constituency’s extensive service in Judea and Samaria, it can “confidently state that Pardo’s allegations are detached from reality.”

“All Israeli security forces stand on solid moral and legal grounds while operating in Judea and Samaria, in light of the clear military necessity to defend Israeli civilians,” the group stated. “Any other claim is nothing but a distortion of reality, a vial defamation of the state of Israel and its security forces and is based solely on personal political views.”

IDF Gen. (res.) Gerry Gershon, former Judea and Samaria division commander, and Israeli Police Maj. Gen. (res.) Shalom Kaatabi, former Judea and Samaria district commander, signed the letter. A senior member of the Shin Bet and a major general (reserves) of the Mossad were also listed but not named. JNS