Yair Golan, the leader of the Democrats, has been accused of invoking ‘blood libel’ after making a speech in which he suggest Israel was killing Palestinian babies “as a hobby”.
Golan, a former deputy chief of staff in the IDF and decorated soldier, suggested that the continuation of the war in Gaza risked turning Israel into “a pariah state”.
In an interview with public broadcaster Kan, he said: “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.
“And a sane country does not fight against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not give itself the aim of expelling populations.
"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.”
The comments sparked outrage from the government, with Prime Minister Netanyahu saying: “I vehemently condemn the wild incitement from Yair Golan against our heroic soldiers and against the State of Israel.
"At a time when we are fighting a multifront war and leading complicated diplomatic efforts to free our hostages and defeat Hamas, Golan and his friends in the radical left are trumpeting the most despicable antisemitic blood libels against IDF soldiers and the State of Israel.”
The reference to blood libel was echoed by Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who claimed the comments would “add fuel to the fire of antisemitism in the world”.
And far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir claimed Golan “took a page from the Hamas spokesman”, while Shlomo Karhi, the communications minister, called the Democrat a “terrorist”.
In response to the criticism, Golan insisted his words were targeted at the “corrupt” government and not the “heroes” of the IDF.
He later tweeted: “We have already tried [Benny] Gantz’s method of flattering Netanyahu, [Bezalel] Smotrich, and Ben-Gvir and it failed.
"The meaning of my words was clear: This war is the realisation of the fantasies of Ben-Gvir and Smotrich and if we allow them to put this into action, we will become a pariah state. It is time for us to have a backbone of hardened steel, we must stand up for our values as a Zionist, Jewish and democratic state.
"IDF fighters are heroes; government ministers are corrupt. The IDF is ethical, and the people are upright; the government is crooked. The war must be ended, the hostages returned, and Israel rehabilitated.”
However, this is not the first time Golan has faced accusations of using offensive rhetoric.
For instance, in a 2016 Holocaust Memorial Day speech he suggested that there were “remnants” of the “horrific processes which developed in Europe – particularly in Germany” in modern day Israel. He has since apologised for the implication of those remarks, saying it was unintentional and calling any comparison between Israel and Nazi Germany “absurd and baseless”.
He has also previously attracted scorn from the Israeli right for referring to a group of West Bank settlers as “subhuman” and accusing them of committing a “pogrom” after violence around the illegal settlement of Homesh.
