Israeli opposition leader says troops paying price for Netanyahu’s ‘reckless’ policies

Israeli opposition leader Yair Golan said Sunday that Israeli troops were paying the price for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “reckless” policies, two days after Israeli occupiers under army protection attacked the Palestinian town of Tal near Nablus in the occupied West Bank, Anadolu reports.

Golan, chairman of The Democrats party, said in a video posted on the US social media platform X that Netanyahu’s policies, including the exemption of ultra-Orthodox Jews from military service and what he described as “Jewish terrorism,” were exacting a heavy toll on Israeli soldiers.

“The Netanyahu-Bezalel Smotrich-Itamar Ben-Gvir government is abandoning Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank,” he said.

Golan concluded by saying: “Netanyahu, we are coming to replace you in the elections.”

On Saturday, Golan warned in a post on X that Netanyahu’s government was turning the occupied West Bank into a “powder keg” threatening Israel’s security.

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He said the government of Netanyahu, Smotrich and Ben-Gvir was deliberately creating an “explosive reality” in the occupied West Bank.

He added that extremist settlers had for months been systematically provoking friction, fueling tensions and dragging the Israeli army and the country toward a wider confrontation.

On Friday, Israeli occupiers backed by the army attacked the Palestinian town of Tal, killing four Palestinians. Two Israelis were also killed in a shooting during the confrontation, according to Palestinian and Israeli sources.

Israeli forces also imposed a siege on Nablus and surrounding towns following the violence, carried out mass arrest raids and announced preparations for a wide-scale military operation across the West Bank.

Since October 2023, Israeli forces and occupiers have killed at least 1,182 Palestinians in the West Bank, injured thousands and detained around 24,000, according to official Palestinian figures.

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