The uncomfortable truth: Yair Golan is right about what Israel is becoming
Police detain an activist with Standing Together who participated in a march from Sderot to the Gaza border, calling for the end of the war, on 18 May 2025
The lead editorial in Haaretz on 21 May 2025:
Yair Golan spoke a truth that is uncomfortable to the Israeli ear.
That is the most accurate explanation for the attack on MK Yair Golan from nearly the entire political spectrum, from the extreme right to the moderate center, in the wake of his remarks on Tuesday.
“Israel is on the path to becoming a pariah state, like South Africa once was, if it does not return to acting like a sane country,” the chair of the Democrats party said. “A sane state does not wage war against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby and does not set goals for itself such as the expulsion of a population,” he added.
It was precisely because Golan spoke the truth that the attack was so comprehensive. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose relationship to the truth is known to all, accused Golan of “outrageous incitement against our soldiers and against the State of Israel.” Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar warned that Golan’s remarks “will certainly add fuel to the fire of antisemitism.” Defense Minister Yisrael Katz called them “vile blood libel” and said Golan “must be ostracized from public life.” Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi called the lawmaker a “terrorist,” while the architect of the government coup, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, called for him to be stripped of his rank of major general.
The hysteria crossed the imaginary lines of the opposition. Yisrael Beiteinu party leader Avigdor Lieberman accused Golan of harming national security. National Unity Party chair Benny Gantz claimed that Golan’s remarks “endanger the freedom of our soldiers,” while opposition leader and Yesh Atid chair Yair Lapid was quick to declare that “the statement that Israel Defense Forces soldiers kill babies as a hobby is wrong and a gift to our enemies.” Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett chose to break his silence to remind us all that “the one who murders babies is Hamas, and Hamas alone.”
The few who are fighting to end the war are being silenced and persecuted. Nine activists were arrested this week when they marched from Sderot to the Gaza border in protest of the expanded assault. They tried to block the road to Kibbutz Nir Am – and were arrested for “disturbing the peace,” “assaulting a police officer” and “behavior that could disrupt the peace.”
Among those arrested was Alon-Lee Green, the national director of Standing Together, which organized the demonstration. Make no mistake: These are political arrests.
The protesters (who have been placed under house arrest, for now) were arrested because they were disrupting the real mission: destroying what is left of the Strip, while exploiting the humanitarian aid to force out the population. This is not speculation, it is policy.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said it openly: The current operation is being conducted “with an intensity not seen since the beginning of the war,” while destroying “what is left of the Strip” and “moving the population around,” until it leaves “with God’s help to third countries within the framework of the Trump plan.”
The detainees must be released immediately. The only way to defend the truth is to join those who dare to speak it. To join the protest, to call for an end to the fighting and the killing and for the release of the hostages.
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