Israel risks becoming "pariah state" over Gaza, says opposition leader Golan “A sane country doesn’t kill babies as a hobby”

Yair Golan, leader of Israel’s leftwing opposition party, The Democrats, has said that his country risks becoming a “pariah state” that kills children "as a hobby."

Speaking to public broadcaster Kan, Golan said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government was “endangering” the country’s existence with its conduct of the war against Hamas, which has provoked concerns even among US President Donald Trump’s administration, Caliber.Az reports.

“Israel is on the way to becoming a pariah state, like South Africa was, if we don’t return to acting like a sane country,” Golan said. “A sane country does not fight against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not give itself the aim of expelling populations.”

Golan, a former IDF general and deputy minister, also questioned the morals of the current Israeli government, saying that it is “full of vengeful, immoral individuals” who lack the ability to manage a state in crisis. “This government,” he said, “is dangerous to our very existence.”

However, Golan emphasised that his criticism was directed at the government, not the military. “IDF soldiers are heroes, the government ministers are corrupt. The IDF is moral, the people are decent and the government is crooked,” he said. “We must end the war, bring back the hostages and rebuild Israel."

Golan’s remarks drew a furious response from Netanyahu, who accused the former general of “wild incitement”. “While we are waging a multifront war and leading complex diplomatic efforts to free our hostages and defeat Hamas, Golan and his friends on the radical left are echoing the most despicable antisemitic blood libels against IDF soldiers and the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said.

To note, Israel has massively ratcheted up its offensive in Gaza in recent days, expanding its ground operations in the enclave and carrying out air strikes across the territory that have killed hundreds of Palestinians. 

Until May 19, it had also not allowed any food, aid, medicines or fuel to enter Gaza for more than two months, exacerbating a humanitarian catastrophe for the enclave’s 2.2 million people, and prompting a senior UN official to warn of a looming “genocide” in Gaza. 

Israel rejected the accusation and has insisted that its restrictions on aid entering Gaza were designed to prevent it from being diverted to Hamas.

By Khagan Isayev