Israel's left-wing politician Yair Golan came under fire on Tuesday from across the Israeli political spectrum after he accused the country of killing babies in Gaza “as a hobby,” the Times of Israel reported.
Golan, a former IDF deputy chief of staff and current head of The Democrats — a newly formed party born from the merger of Labor and Meretz — made the remarks during an interview with public broadcaster Kan. He warned that “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 Times of Israel quoted Golan as saying : “A sane country does not target civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not aim to expel populations,”
He went on to accuse the government of being “full of vengeful types with no morals and no ability to run a country in a time of crisis. This endangers our existence.”
Earlier in the day, Israel’s military declared an entire city a combat zone, airstrikes killed more than 60 people, and the finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said Israel’s army would “wipe out” what remains of Palestinian Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned Golan’s remarks as “wild incitement” and a “blood libel”.
“I vehemently condemn the wild incitement from Yair Golan against our heroic soldiers and against the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “The IDF is the most moral army in the world, and our soldiers are fighting a war for our very existence.”
Golan had previously courted controversy in 2016 when, as IDF deputy chief, he drew parallels between developments in Israeli society and “horrifying processes” that took place in Europe ahead of the Holocaust. The speech is widely believed to have cost him a shot at the top military post.
Following the uproar, Golan sought to clarify his comments, insisting he was criticising the government, not IDF soldiers.
“The meaning of my words was clear,” he wrote on X. “This war is the realisation of the fantasies of Ben Gvir and Smotrich. If we let them carry it out, Israel will become a pariah state.”
Golan’s remarks were welcomed by lawmakers from the Arab-majority Hadash-Ta’al list. Party chair Ayman Odeh said it was Golan’s words — not the killing of 20,000 children, the siege, or the destruction of homes and hospitals — that “shocked the hollow opposition leaders.”
Despite fierce political divides, criticism of IDF conduct has long remained taboo within Zionist parties. But in recent months, even former Likud minister and IDF chief Moshe Ya’alon has adopted a more critical tone, accusing the government of “ethnic cleansing” and eroding the military’s moral compass.
Meanwhile UN's humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, said 14,000 babies could die in Gaza `in the next 48 hours' if more aid doesn't reach them, BBC reported.
In an important development, The Guardian reported that Britain, France and Canada on Tuesday attacked Israel’s expansion of its war as disproportionate, described conditions in Gaza as “intolerable” and threatened a “concrete” response if Israel’s campaign continues.
“We will not stand by while the Netanyahu government pursues these egregious actions. If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response,” the three allied governments said in a statement on Monday.
Netanyahu responded to the message, saying Israel will continue to fight until “total victory” was achieved.
International pressure over a looming famine forced the Israeli prime minister to announce on Sunday night that he would ease the 11-week siege of Gaza to prevent a “starvation crisis”.
The UN said nine trucks of aid had been cleared to enter. This is less than 2% of daily shipments before the war, when Palestinians in Gaza were well fed and the strip had its own agricultural sector, and will make no meaningful difference to the crisis now gripping most of its 2.3 million population.
Britain, France and Canada described Israeli measures as “wholly inadequate”, warned it risked breaching international law and called for “a return to delivery of aid in line with humanitarian principles”.