Israeli Democrats chair slams Netanyahu’s government as ‘criminal organisation’

Chairman of the Israeli opposition coalition, the Democrats, Yair Golan yesterday said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government runs the country like a “criminal organisation”.

Golan took to X to protest after the government hinted at the possibility of concluding a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon, while it refuses to conclude a similar agreement in the Gaza Strip, where Israeli captives are being held.

“The criminal gang running the State of Israel claims if we reach an agreement in the south [Gaza], it will endanger the future of Israel, and there will be another October 7,” he said.

Golan wondered why such a settlement can be reached in the north while Hezbollah remains strong, however, the government claims reaching an agreement in Gaza is “an existential threat to the State of Israel?”

Earlier yesterday, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar claimed that progress had been made in the ceasefire negotiations in Lebanon.

“The Russians in Syria can help stop Hezbollah’s rearmament… Hezbollah’s missile capabilities have been severely damaged and mostly destroyed… but Hezbollah as an organisation is not finished yet,” he added.

Sa’ar’s statements came after Hezbollah’s media relations official, Mohammed Afif, confirmed that the party’s elements on the front lines possess enough weapons and equipment for a long war on all levels.

Senior members in Netanyahu’s coalition government, most notably National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have repeatedly threatened that they would withdraw from the government if the war in Gaza stops.

READ: Trump’s foreign policy team signals further drift from ‘America First’ to ‘Israel First’