Liberman tells Golan to ‘shut up,’ says rhetoric aiding Netanyahu election campaign

Tensions between opposition party leaders flared on Tuesday, when right-wing Yisrael Beytenu party chief Avigdor Liberman and left-wing The Democrats chairman Yair Golan got into a public spat over whether Golan’s rhetoric was hurting the opposition’s chances of defeating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the upcoming elections.

The row began with Lieberman saying that Golan should remain quiet because when he speaks publicly, it only helps Netanyahu’s campaign ahead of the elections set for October 27.

Golan should “shut up” because doing so “would be his biggest contribution to our victory,” Hebrew media outlets Ynet and Israel Hayom quoted Liberman as telling a parlor meeting on Monday night.

Liberman — a right-wing secularist former Netanyahu ally-turned-bitter rival — argued that there are plenty of areas of agreement between the parties on issues such as term limits for the role of prime minister and drafting a constitution, but that “bringing up the issue of a Palestinian state or the evacuation of settlements every two days is complete madness” and is “purely working in Netanyahu’s favor.”

Liberman also dismissed the possibility of Golan leading the defense, national security or justice ministries in a future opposition-led government.

In response, Golan called on Liberman to “stop serving Netanyahu’s incitement campaign.”

“Urich says The Democrats are illegitimate because he wants to weaken the change bloc and bring Netanyahu back to power,” and “it’s time to stop echoing his messages,” Golan posted on X, referring to Jonatan Urich, a senior media adviser to Netanyahu, and to the bloc of parties opposed to the premier.

“We can fight now and give Netanyahu another term. Or we can work as a bloc, win, and then argue in the government. We’re choosing victory,” Golan wrote.

Golan has routinely sparked public backlash for controversial statements regarding the Israel Defense Forces and Palestinian issues in the past, most notably in May 2025, when he appeared to accuse Israel of killing babies in Gaza “as a hobby,” triggering condemnations from across the political spectrum.

In the interview that caused the political firestorm, the retired general told the Kan broadcaster that “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. A sane country does not fight against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not set itself the aim of expelling populations.”

The controversy resulted in Defense Minister Israel Katz announcing that Golan would be permanently barred from reserve duty, wearing a military uniform and entering army bases, calling Golan’s Gaza remarks a “blood libel” that will “serve enemies of Israel to keep persecuting IDF troops around the world,” including pursuing legal action against them.

The left-wing leader quickly walked back his claims, saying he did not, in fact, believe Israel had committed the crimes he had listed, but rather was expressing his fear that extremist politicians in the government sought to.

Still, he was unable to shake off the political fallout from the remarks, with the now-infamous quote garnering fresh international attention last week after it was highlighted in an article by the British Telegraph newspaper, which was originally titled “Netanyahu’s latest challenger said Israel killed children as a hobby” before later being changed to “Netanyahu’s left-wing nemesis positions himself as Israel’s kingmaker.”

הכותרת בטלגרף הבריטי מצטטת היום את דבריו של יאיר גולן, שותפו של איזנקוט: ״ישראל הורגת ילדים כתחביב״.

איזה שקר מוחלט. איזה נזק נורא למאבקנו הצודק וללוחמינו הגיבורים.

אני מגנה בתוקף את השקר הנתעב הזה! pic.twitter.com/SfxfmPbhvw

— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) July 29, 2026

Netanyahu posted a picture of the original article on X with the caption, “The headline in the British Telegraph today quotes the words of Yair Golan, [Gadi] Eisenkot’s partner: ‘Israel kills children as a hobby.’ What an absolute lie. What terrible damage to our just struggle and to our heroic fighters.”

The premier has also repeatedly seized on the quote in political campaigns targeting Golan and Eisenkot, the leader of the Yashar party and Netanyahu’s main political rival in the upcoming elections.

Most recently, it appeared in a montage of several controversial statements Golan has made in the past, posted on X by Netanyahu’s Likud Party on Monday and later reposted by Netanyahu himself.

The 39-second video opens and closes with Hebrew text reading, “Yair Golan will be Eisenkot’s defense minister.”

There is no public evidence suggesting that Eisenkot intends to appoint Golan as his defense minister if his Yashar party wins the elections. Nonetheless, Netanyahu has previously employed similar campaign tactics, including accusing Eisenkot of planning to partner with Arab parties to form a coalition.

Though long a controversial figure, Golan emerged as a brief consensus hero in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, when he headed to the front lines and personally helped rescue partygoers fleeing the attack on the Nova music festival.

The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident – ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded – I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.

There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.

As a Times of Israel reporter, I’m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit’s. But my colleagues and I can't do this alone. If you value work like this, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.

— Stav Levaton, military reporter

We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.

That’s why we started the Times of Israel – to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.

So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.

For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.

Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel