Senior generals, former officials demand Netanyahu's removal

Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Friday that 26 former senior Israeli security officials and 17 senior officials in the civil field, including three Nobel Prize winners, signed a public letter calling for the dismissal of the Prime Minister of the occupation government Benjamin Netanyahu, following the failures of the war in Gaza. They consider him unqualified to lead Israel and that his hands are stained with Israeli blood.

The newspaper published the letter’s contents and disclosed that it would also be published in the US at the end of the week.

Most of the signatories expressed their clear opinion of Netanyahu, even before Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October, through speeches some gave during demonstrations opposing the plan to undermine the judiciary led by the Israeli government.

Journalist and political commentator of the newspaper Nahum Barnea considered that the most crucial matter is not the names included on the list but the timing, explaining: “The protests that were completely frozen after 7 October demand a return to the core of public (Israeli) discourse. The allegations differed, but the goal did not change.”

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The writer said that the letter initiated by Jeremy Levin, director general of the Teva Pharmaceutical Company, who holds dual Israeli and US citizenship, is addressed to Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana but mainly directed at the US political arena.

Among the prominent names included in the letter are former ministers and chiefs of staff in the occupation army and former heads of the intelligence services, such as Moshe Yaalon, Dan Halutz, Tamir Pardo, Nadav Argaman, Assaf Hefetz and Yaakov Peri, all of whom have headed the Israeli security services or held high-ranking positions.

The signatories added to their previous claims that Netanyahu’s effort to destroy democracy: “Bears primary responsibility for creating the circumstances leading to the brutal massacre of over 1,200 Israelis and others, the injury of over 4,500, and the kidnapping of more than 230 individuals, of whom over 130 are still held in Hamas captivity. The victims’ blood is on Netanyahu’s hands.”

They also noted that he was fundamentally and morally incompetent to lead Israel into war and posed a direct and existential threat to the State of Israel.

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Barnea indicated: “These are very difficult statements, coming in the midst of war and in the midst of a campaign in Congress and in American public opinion regarding providing emergency aid to Israel. US President Joe Biden wants to give Israel $14 billion, which is a huge amount that Israel needs today more than ever. Members of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party are obstructing approval under the pretext that American-made bombs are killing thousands of civilians in Gaza. Young voters are threatening to abstain from voting in the elections because of Biden’s absolute support for Israel.”

Barnea added that he could not remember a case in which a US president feared that his support for Israel would cost him dearly at the ballot boxes. Instead, the opposite has happened, as presidents feared entering into a confrontation with Israeli governments in an election year. Their fears used to be losing donations and losing Jewish voters in key states. Israel used to be a matter of consensus, but this is no longer the case. According to the newspaper, the letter calling for Netanyahu’s replacement warns of the harm that Netanyahu is causing to relations with the US, according to the signatories’ claims.

The Israeli writer believes that Netanyahu, and what he symbolises, is at the heart of US debates and that the hostility towards him in internal US discourse goes beyond talk of the war.

Barnea continued that Netanyahu’s clear refusal to discuss Biden’s plan to end the war led senior officials in the US administration to the conclusion that it was no longer possible to work with him. To them, he is unqualified. In internal discussions in the White House, they are now looking for a way to talk to politicians and public opinion in Israel and bypass Netanyahu.

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