Politicians from across the Zionist political spectrum, both from the far-right coalition and opposition, condemn Tuesday, May 20, Yair Golan, leader of the Democrats (Labor and Meretz parties) after he declares that Israel was killing children in Gaza “as a hobby.” “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,” the former major general in the Israeli army 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 says.
Leader of the Democrats party Yair Golan leads a Labor faction meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on May 19, 2025 (Photo: Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)
“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 agreed and called 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 government, stating that it is “filled with people who have nothing whatsoever to do with Judaism – 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 slams Golan calling the statement “wild incitement” and a “blood libel.” “The Israeli army is the most moral army in the world, and our soldiers are fighting in a war for our existence.” “Golan, who encourages refusal to serve and compared Israel to Nazis while he was still in the military, has now reached a new low when he claimed Israel is ‘killing babies as a hobby,” Netanyahu says, referring to a 2016 speech in which the then-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.
“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,” says racist National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. “Golan is a terrorist” who is “sabotaging efforts to achieve war goals”, agreed Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar slams 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,” says Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich a settler in the occupied Palestinian territories, accusing him 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,” says Defense Minister Israel Katz,
Also, Zionist opposition party leaders condemn Golan. In a statement, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid says that Israel’s soldiers “are heroes” and any claim that they kill babies is “a gift to our enemies.” National Unity chairman Benny Gantz calls on Golan “to retract and apologize” to the troops for his “outrageous, false, and extreme” statement, which he says “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,” weighs in far right and anti-communist Israel Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman. National Unity chairman Benny Gantz — who following October 7 joined the coalition to serve in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet before resigning and rejoining the opposition — called on Golan “to retract and apologize” to the troops on Tuesday morning.
Golan’s comments were supported only by Knesset members in the Hadash-Ta’al list, who praised his criticism of the occupation army and war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza Faction chairman MK 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 in time as 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 have launched an offensive on the Gaza Strip, resulting in the killing of 53,486 Palestinian civilians, the majority of whom were children and women, with nearly 121,398 reported injured.
