Ex-Mossad head says Israel risks religious coup

JERUSALEM, Sunday (Reuters)

Israel faces the danger of a coup by religious troops opposed to quitting the Gaza Strip if it does not stop far-right rabbis from preaching mutiny, a former head of the Mossad intelligence agency said on Sunday.

Danny Yatom, a retired army general who headed Mossad from 1996 to 1998 and now serves as a lawmaker for the pro-pullout Labour party, said he saw the seeds of full-blown rebellion.

"There are too many rabbis calling for orders to be disobeyed en masse -- effectively, a mutiny. If there are enough soldiers willing to put such edicts ahead of the army, it will cause a crisis that could lead to a coup," Yatom told Reuters.

The army declined comment and a religious former general said Yatom was being alarmist.