TEL AVIV—Politicians from across the Zionist party spectrum in Israel—both from the far-right coalition and the opposition—condemn Yair Golan, leader of the Democrats, the country’s main social democratic party, on Tuesday, May 20, after he declared that Israel was killing children in Gaza “as a hobby.”
Golan, who is a retired soldier and former general, spent much of his military career serving in the occupied West Bank, protecting Jewish settlements. He eventually become one of their most vocal critics. As a member of the Knesset, Israel’s legislature, he is now also known as an opponent of the war in Gaza.
Golan’s latest condemnation of the Netanyahu government’s policy came as the U.N. warned of the danger of mass starvation in Gaza and the foreign ministers of 22 countries—including France, Germany, Britain, Canada, Japan, and Australia—jointly demanded Israel stop the war.
“Israel is on the way to becoming a pariah state, like South Africa was, if we don’t return to acting like a sane country,” Golan said in an interview with the Kan public broadcaster. “And a sane country does not fight against civilians, does not kill children as a hobby, and does not give itself the aim of expelling populations,” he said.
“This government is full of vengeful types with no morals and no ability to run a country in a time of crisis. This endangers our existence,” Golan declared, calling for the far-right government to be replaced “as soon as possible, so that the war can come to an end.”
Golan placed direct blame on the Netanyahu government, stating that it is “filled with people who have nothing whatsoever to do with Judaism…. [They are] Kahanist types, lacking wisdom, morality, and the ability to manage a state during an emergency. This is dangerous to our very existence.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed Golan, calling his statement “wild incitement” and a “blood libel.” He claimed the Israeli Defense Forces are “the most moral army in the world” and that his soldiers “are fighting in a war for our existence.”
In addition to the brutality meted out to Palestinians, those same soldiers also fired on a large group of diplomats Wednesday who were touring the West Bank city of Jenin and inspecting the refugee camp there which has been emptied by Israeli forces. Video from the incident showed the more than two dozen diplomats, their staff, and Palestinian Authority personnel running amid the sound of bullets.
Rather than criticize the actions of his troops, however, the prime minister concentrated his fire on Golan, who he said “encourages [soldiers’] refusal to serve and compared Israel to Nazis while he was still in the military.” He accused the Democrats’ reaching “a new low when he claimed Israel is ‘killing babies as a hobby.’”
Netanyahu’s mention of the Nazis refers to a 2016 speech in which Golan, then a senior army officer, likened developments being seen in Israel to what he said were similar “disturbing processes” that took place in Europe in the run-up to the Holocaust.
The other far-right figures in the Netanyahu cabinet joined in the attacks on Golan.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said, “Golan apparently took a page from the Hamas spokesman” and his own hobby “has always been spreading antisemitic blood libels against the State of Israel.”
“Golan is a terrorist” who is “sabotaging efforts to achieve war goals,” agreed Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar criticized Golan’s “blood libel against the State of Israel and its army,” asserting that it will “add fuel to the fire of antisemitism in the world.”
“Every decent, ethical, and moral Zionist must renounce Golan and his actions and make it clear that there are red lines that are not crossed,” said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a settler in the occupied Palestinian territories. He accused Golan of giving Israel’s enemies “a sword to kill us.”
“Anyone who compared Israeli society in the past to the Nazi regime and is now slandering and defaming the State of Israel and his army in a time of war must be ostracized from public life,” said Defense Minister Israel Katz.
It wasn’t just the government piling on, though. Zionist opposition party leaders also attacked Golan. In a statement, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said that Israel’s soldiers “are heroes” and any claim that they kill babies is “a gift to our enemies.”
National Unity chairman Benny Gantz called on Golan “to retract and apologize” to the troops for his “outrageous, false, and extreme” statement, which he said “endangers the freedom of our heroic fighters” to operate in occupied Gaza.
“The Israeli army is the most moral army in the world, and any such false statement against it harms our soldiers and the security of the state,” far right and anti-communist Israel Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman said.
Golan’s comments were supported only by Knesset members in the Hadash-Ta’al list, which includes the Communist Party of Israel. They praised his criticism of the occupation army and the war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza.
Hadash chairman Member of Knesset Ayman Odeh said it was only Golan’s comments that “managed to shock the hollow opposition leaders, not the unimaginable killing of 20,000 children, not the siege, not the starvation, not the destruction of homes, schools, and hospitals.”
MK Ofer Cassif wrote on X that Golan’s comments were “better late than never.”
According to MK Aida Touma-Sliman, “Golan’s remarks come at a time when Smotrich is openly talking about the total destruction of Gaza and says that the meager humanitarian aid authorized by the government is a necessary step toward the ethnic cleansing of the Strip. Smotrich is articulating clearly what Netanyahu’s policy is. This is not about Hamas but about the destruction of the Palestinian people. Humanitarian aid is not enough. The world must impose a ceasefire.”
In recent months, ex-Likud MK Moshe Ya’alon, a former defense minister and former army chief, has also adopted a sharp tone against the war in Gaza, accusing the far-right government of carrying out “ethnic cleansing the Strip.”
Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli occupation forces’ offensive on the Gaza Strip has resulted in the killing of at least 53,486 Palestinian civilians, the majority of whom were children and women, with nearly 121,398 reported injured.
C.J. Atkins contributed to this article.
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