Israeli Ex-General: 'A Sane Country Does Not Kill Babies As A Pastime'
A retired Israeli general slammed the country's ongoing military assault on Gaza, warning that Israel's actions — which have killed and displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians — could make it a 'pariah state' in the eyes of the world.
'A sane country does not wage war against civilians, does not kill babies as a pastime, and does not engage in mass population displacement,' said Yair Golan, a former deputy chief of staff for the Israeli army and the head of the country's left-wing opposition party, in an interview with radio station Reshet Bet.
Israeli airstrikes, and the resulting civilian casualties, have surged in the last week as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed the goal of taking 'full control' of the Gaza Strip.
The latest attacks only add to the staggering toll of the conflict, which has killed 53,000 Palestinians and injured 121,000 others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. This past week, the United Nations estimated that an additional 14,000 babies could die in just two days due to a dearth of nutrition and medical aid.
Golan, the leader of the country's Democratic Party, has been an outspoken critic of Netanyahu's leadership and has urged the Israeli government to seek a long-term ceasefire. He emphasized that Israel could become ostracized globally, much like South Africa was during apartheid.
Golan's comments swiftly drew the ire of Netanyahu, who condemned them as 'wild incitement' and 'despicable antisemitic blood libels against IDF soldiers and the State of Israel' via a post on X. IDF chief of staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir also accused Golan of impugning the character of the IDF and questioning Israeli soldiers' morality.
Golan, meanwhile, stressed that his remarks were aimed at Israeli government officials and not soldiers, stating that 'IDF fighters are heroes; government ministers are corrupt.'
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has deepened in recent months amid Israel's 11-week blockade on food, water and medical supplies, which it lifted only this past week. A scarcity of resources — in addition to the destruction of multiple hospitals in the territory — has prompted concerns about famine as well as the spread of infectious disease.
Global pressure on Israel has also grown amid these developments, with the U.K., France and Canada issuing a joint statement this week urging Israel to suspend its military onslaught and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, or face 'concrete actions.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
13 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Netanyahu's government could collapse over ultra-Orthodox military draft law
BNEI BARAK, Israel (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a vote to dissolve parliament Wednesday and key coalition partners have threatened to bring down his government. Still, few think it's the end of the road for Israel's longest-serving prime minister, who has been battling corruption charges for years, or his far-right government, still in power after presiding over the security failures surrounding the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack. The move to dissolve, called by the opposition, will only pass if Netanyahu's ultra-Orthodox coalition partners break with him over the failure to pass a law exempting their community from military service, an issue that has bitterly divided Israelis, especially during the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip. The threats coming from the ultra-Orthodox could be posturing, and many expect Netanyahu to pull off a last-minute deal. But Wednesday's vote is the most serious challenge to Netanyahu's government since the war began, and the coalition's collapse could have major implications for Israel and the ongoing war. Why do the ultra-Orthodox reject military service? Most Jewish men are required to serve nearly three years of military service followed by years of reserve duty. Jewish women serve two mandatory years. But the politically powerful ultra-Orthodox, who make up roughly 13% of Israeli society, have traditionally received exemptions if they are studying full-time in religious seminaries. The exemptions — and the government stipends many seminary students receive through age 26 — have infuriated the general public. After Hamas' 2023 attack, Israel activated 360,000 reservists, its largest mobilization since the 1973 Mideast war. Israel is engaged in the longest active war in the country's history, which has stretched its robust military to the breaking point. Many reserve soldiers have served multiple rounds of duty in Gaza totaling hundreds of days. Some reserve soldiers are rejecting new call-ups. The number of Israelis continuing to report for reserve duty has dropped so low that the military has taken to social media to try to recruit people to keep serving. The enlistment exemption for the ultra-Orthodox goes back to Israel's 1948 founding, when small numbers of gifted scholars were exempt from the draft in response to the decimation of Jewish scholarship during the Holocaust. But with a push from politically powerful religious parties, the numbers have swelled to tens of thousands today. Israel's Supreme Court said the exemptions were illegal in 2017, but repeated extensions and government delay tactics have prevented a replacement law from being passed. Among Israel's Jewish majority, mandatory military service is largely seen as a melting pot and rite of passage. That's exactly why some ultra-Orthodox don't want their children to serve. 'It mixes together people with very different backgrounds, very different ideas, some people with very immoral ideas,' said Rabbi Ephraim Luft, 66, from the ultra-Orthodox stronghold of Bnei Barak. Luft said the community's dedication to upholding Jewish commandments protects the country as much as military service. 'Over thousands of years, the Jewish people have stood very strongly against any kind of decrees to force them to give up their religion, they've given up their lives for this,' Luft said. 'People have to understand there's no difference between the Spanish Inquisition or the Israeli draft law.' Why would ultra-Orthodox parties want to bring down the government? Two parties belonging to the Haredim, or 'God-fearing' in Hebrew, are essential to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition. Both would need to vote to dissolve the government to force new elections, including Shas, which has traditionally been more supportive of Netanyahu. On Monday, a Shas spokesperson told an ultra-Orthodox radio program the party currently plans to vote in favor of dissolution, unless there is a breakthrough in negotiations. The other party, Degel HaTorah, has been threatening to leave the government since last week. 'Basically, they don't really care about the war and the economic situation of the state and anything else but their communal interest. And the focus of this communal interest is getting the exemption from serving in the army,' said Shuki Friedman, an expert on religion and state affairs and vice president of the Jewish People Policy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank. Friedman and other experts say the current system is unsustainable. With its high birthrate, the ultra-Orthodox are the fastest-growing segment of Israel's population, at about 4% annually. Each year, roughly 13,000 ultra-Orthodox men reach the conscription age of 18, but less than 10% enlist, according to parliament's State Control Committee, which held a hearing examining the issue. The shock of the Oct. 7 attack appeared to ignite some enthusiasm among the ultra-Orthodox to serve, but no large enlistment materialized. The army has repeatedly declined to comment on the ultra-Orthodox enlistment rate. What happens if parliament is dissolved? If the dissolution vote passes, it still faces a series of bureaucratic steps, including additional votes, that the government would likely drag on for weeks or months, said Gayil Talshir, a political science professor at Hebrew University. 'It will be like a gun that's been put into position, but that doesn't mean the coalition is over,' she said. Elections in Israel are currently scheduled for the fall of 2026. Both Talshir and Friedman believe it's unlikely the dissolution vote will pass Wednesday. If one ultra-Orthodox party is absent, the vote will not pass and another cannot be brought for six months, Talshir said. However, there's also a 'valid possibility' the rabbis who advise the ultra-Orthodox parties will say they've waited long enough for a draft exemption law, because they are facing enormous pressure from their communities, Friedman said. The army has issued thousands of draft notices to the ultra-Orthodox community, and those who refuse to serve can face arrest. While only around a dozen have been arrested after being stopped for trying to leave the country or for traffic violations, the fear this has inspired is significant, he added. What impact does this have on the war in Gaza and the hostage crisis? Netanyahu frequently cites the ongoing war as a reason why Israel needs to provide a united front against its enemies. While the ultra-Orthodox parties remain part of the coalition, they want the war to end as quickly as possible, Talshir said. 'The Haredim think once the war is over, the pressure will be off them and they will be able to get their (military) exemption law,' she said.
Yahoo
14 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump must tell Netanyahu 'enough is enough': ex-Israeli PM
US President Donald Trump should tell Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu "enough is enough", a former Israeli prime minister told AFP, denouncing the continuation of the war in Gaza as a "crime" and insisting a two-state solution is the only way to end the conflict. Ehud Olmert, prime minister between 2006-2009, said in an interview in Paris that the United States has more influence on the Israeli government "than all the other powers put together" and that Trump can "make a difference". He said Netanyahu "failed completely" as a leader by not preventing the October 7, 2023 attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas that sparked the war. He said while the international community accepted Israel's right to self defence after October 7, this changed when Netanyahu spurned chances to end the war in March and instead ramped up operations. Netanyahu "has his personal interests which are prioritised over what may be the national interests," Olmert charged. Analysts say Netanyahu fears that if he halts the war, hardline members of his coalition will walk out, collapsing the government and forcing elections he could lose. "If there is a war which is not going to save hostages, which cannot really eradicate more of what they did already against Hamas and if, as a result of this, soldiers are getting killed, hostages maybe get killed and innocent Palestinians are killed, then to my mind this is a crime," said Olmert. "And this is something that should be condemned and not accepted," he said. Trump should summon Netanyahu to the White House Oval Office and facing cameras, tell the Israeli leader: "'Bibi: enough is enough'", Olmert said, using the premier's nickname. "This is it. I hope he (Trump) will do it. There is nothing that cannot happen with Trump. I don't know if this will happen. We have to hope and we have to encourage him," said Olmert. Despite occasional expressions of concern about the situation in Gaza, the US remains Israel's key ally, using its veto at the UN Security Council and approving billions of dollars in arms sales. - 'Doable and valid' - Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Militants abducted 251 hostages, 54 of whom remain in Gaza, including 32 the Israeli military says are dead. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed 54,880 people, mostly civilians, according to the GAza health ministry, figures the United Nations deems reliable. Along with former Palestinian foreign minister Nasser Al-Qidwa, Olmert is promoting a plan to end decades of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians to create a Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel. Both sides would swap 4.4 percent of eachother's land to the other, according to the plan, with Israeli receiving some West Bank territory occupied by Israeli settlers and a future Palestinian state territory that is currently part of Israel. Ahead of a meeting this month in New York co-hosted by France and Saudi Arabia on steps towards recognising a Palestinian state, Olmert said that such a plan is "practical, is doable, is relevant, is valid and is real." Olmert spent over a year in prison from 2016-2017 after being convicted in corruption scandals that ended his political career and efforts to forge peace. A longtime political rival of Netanyahu even though they both emerged from the same Likud right-wing party, he also faces an uphill struggle to convince Israeli society where support for a Palestinian state, let alone land swaps, is at a low ebb after October 7. "It requires a leadership on both sides," said Olmert. "We are trying to raise international awareness and the awareness of our own societies that this is not something lost but offers a future of hope." - 'Get rid of both' - Al-Qidwa, who is due to promote the plan alongside Olmert at a conference organised by the Jean-Jaures Foundation think tank in Paris on Tuesday, told AFP the blueprint was the "only game in town and the only doable solution". But he said societies in Israel and the Palestinian territories still had to be convinced, partly due to the continuation of the war. "The moment the war comes to an end we will see a different kind of thinking. We have to go forward with acceptance of the co-existence of the two sides." But he added there could be no hope of "serious progress with the current Israeli government and current Palestinian leadership" under the aging president Mahmud Abbas, in office now for two decades. "You have to get rid of both. And that is going to happen," he said, labelling the Palestinian leadership as "corrupt and inept". cl-sjw/gv
Newsweek
2 hours ago
- Newsweek
75 Democrats Express 'Gratitude' to ICE in Antisemitism Vote Amid LA Unrest
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Seventy-five Democrats broke ranks on Monday, joining Republicans in voting for a House resolution condemning antisemitism and expressing "gratitude" for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other law enforcement personnel. Why It Matters Monday's vote comes as Los Angeles is reeling from days of political unrest after ICE raided several downtown city neighborhoods and arrested more than 50 people. The arrests are part of the Trump administration's broader crackdown on undocumented migrants, which has also swept up people who are legally permitted to be in the United States. President Donald Trump has deployed 4,000 National Guard troops to L.A. since the protests started unfolding and has also mobilized 700 Marines to respond if the strife escalates. What To Know Monday's resolution condemned this month's antisemitic attack in Boulder, Colorado, in which the suspect, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, faces 118 criminal charges, accused of targeting a march calling for the return of Israeli hostages in Gaza. The resolution also "affirms that free and open communication between State and local law enforcement and their Federal counterparts remains the bedrock of public safety and is necessary in preventing terrorist attacks; and expresses gratitude to law enforcement officers, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel, for protecting the homeland." Of the 212 Democrats in the House, 113 voted against the resolution, which was introduced by Republican Representative Gabe Evans. Seventy-five Democrats voted in favor of the measure, including Representative Joe Neguse, who represents the district where the Boulder attack occurred. Six lawmakers—five Democrats and one Republican—voted "present." This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow.
