Israel’s minister of defence has said that he would seek to bar left-wing politician Yair Golan from reserve duty and forbid him from wearing a military uniform or entering army bases following anti-war remarks that sparked an uproar, AFP reports.

Government officials and opposition leaders were united in their condemnation of Golan — a former major general — after he said in a radio interview this week that “a sane country … does not kill babies for a hobby”.

Golan later clarified that he was taking aim at the government’s policies, not individual soldiers, and warned that Israel’s conduct of the offensive in Gaza could make it a “pariah state”.

Defence Minister Israel Katz, accusing the politician of slander, announced he had “decided to order (the military) to no longer call up Yair Golan for reserve service, and to ban him from wearing the uniform of (the army) and from entering military bases”.