“Benyamin Netanyahu must come home immediately,” denounce former senior Israeli army officers

While the Israeli government appears determined to launch a ground offensive in Rafah, Israeli army veterans do not understand their government’s military strategy

Benyamin Netanyahu, alone against all? As the war between Hamas and Israel is in its seventh month, the Jewish state is intensifying its strikes on the Gaza Strip. A strategy which increasingly questions Israeli society, particularly among the country’s highest-ranking officers, such as retired general Yaïr Golan, who has become a hero in Israel. On October 7, the former number 2 of the army left, weapon in hand, to save participants of the Nova festival.

Since then, this left-wing man launched his political party with a major objective: to end the reign of the Prime Minister. “Benjamin Netanyahu must come home immediately.”he pleads, denouncing his incapacity, according to him, to wage a war, for which he is partly responsible. “There is no military failure without political failure. Instead of strengthening the Palestinian Authority and weakening Hamas, he did the opposite. It’s a shame. He failed. His strategy has been disastrous”, deplores Yaïr Golan.

Irad Yuval, former lieutenant-colonel of the special forces, thinks no less. But for all that, now is not the time for controversy, according to him.

“Change isn’t something you talk about, it’s something you do.”

“We need to make sure we stand behind our soldiers. In the end, we will certainly have to hold new elections. However, being united is more important at the moment.” Irad Yuval recalls that the Jews have not “only one State, and that we must, above all else, ensure its security“.

Like these two veterans, the internal pressure on the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to increase, like a new demonstration, Saturday April 27, which brought together in Tel Aviv thousands of people to demand the release of the hostages kidnapped on October 7. Diplomatic efforts for a truce in the fighting in Gaza combined with the release of hostages have intensified in recent days, as Hamas studies an Israeli counter-proposal for a ceasefire in the Palestinian territory. besieged and threatened with famine. At the same time, the IDF is preparing to launch a ground offensive in Rafah, where there are a million and a half Palestinians, mainly displaced people. Many capitals and humanitarian organizations fear a bloodbath in this city already regularly bombarded by the Israeli army.