Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that opposition leader Yair Golan’s comment that Israel is “killing babies as a hobby” was no different from “antisemitic blood libels” against Israeli forces.

The Democrats Party chairman made the remark about Israel’s war in Gaza earlier on Monday when speaking to Israel’s public broadcaster Kan, stirring heated reactions from across the political spectrum.

“Israel is on the path to becoming a pariah among nations, like South Africa once was, if it doesn’t return to acting like a sane state,” said Golan. “A sane state does not wage war against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not set goals of population expulsion for itself.”

Golan further accused the government of having “nothing whatsoever to do with Judaism. Kahanist types, lacking wisdom, lacking morality and lacking the ability to manage a state in times of emergency. This is dangerous to our very existence. Therefore, it is time to replace this government as soon as possible so that this war can also come to an end.”

Netanyahu berated Golan, who holds the rank of general in the Israel Defense Forces reserves, branding his remarks as “outrageous” with “no limit to [the] moral decay.”

“The IDF is the most moral army in the world, and our soldiers are fighting a battle for our very existence. Golan, who has encouraged refusal to serve and previously compared Israel to the Nazis while in uniform, has now reached a new low,” said the Israeli premier.

“While we are engaged in a multi-front war and leading complex diplomatic efforts to free our hostages and defeat Hamas, Golan and his allies in the radical left are echoing some of the vilest antisemitic blood libels against IDF soldiers and the State of Israel,” Netanyahu stressed.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar tweeted that “Yair Golan’s blood libel against the State of Israel and its army will not be forgiven. What Golan said will undoubtedly serve as fuel on the fire of global antisemitism. This, while Israel is fighting for its survival against a coalition seeking its destruction.”

Former defense minister Yoav Gallant said, “The question is not how a reservist general became hostile to the IDF but how a person hostile to the IDF became a general.”

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett and Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman both condemned Golan on X.

Housing and Construction Minister Yitzchak Goldknopf said, “He who slanders his country is not worthy of it. Yair Golan, shame on you.”

Yair Lapid, leader of the centrist Yesh Atid Party, lashed out at Golan’s statement, calling it “a gift to our enemies. I give my full backing to the IDF and its fighters.”

Only yesterday, Lapid denounced the Democrats chairman as a “radical leftist” in an internal Zoom meeting.

Golan is “getting mandates because he’s a general, but right after the primary, everyone will realize this is a radical left-wing party,” Lapid reportedly told party members in the leaked Yesh Atid Zoom call.

Responding on Monday to the latest controversy, chairman of the Israel Resilience Party and former IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz called on Golan to retract his statement and apologize to Israeli soldiers.

“IDF soldiers do not ‘kill babies as a hobby.’ Such statements are not only outrageous, false, and extreme—they also endanger the freedom of our brave soldiers before international courts,” Gantz warned.

“Retract your words, Yair, and apologize. It’s not too late.”

While not backing down, Golan seemed to suggest that he had been taken out of context.

“We’ve already tried Gantz’s method to appease Netanyahu—and it failed. The meaning of my statements was clear: This war is the realization of [Itamar] Ben Gvir and [Bezalel] Smotrich’s fantasies. And if we allow them to carry them out, we will become a pariah state,” he tweeted.

“It’s time for us to have a spine of forged steel—we must stand firmly by our values as a Zionist, Jewish and democratic state,” Golan continued. “IDF soldiers are heroes; the government ministers are corrupt. The IDF is moral, and the people are upright—the government is crooked. This war must be brought to an end, the hostages returned, and Israel rebuilt.”

Image - Tomer Neuberg/Flash90