After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed his nation’s security services for intelligence failures leading up to Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the Oct. 29 edition of the daily Haaretz issued a biting lead editorial under the headline, “Netanyahu’s Coalition Must Remove Him Immediately.” Making such an accusation, even though he “apologized weakly” afterwards, Haaretz warns, means that “every Israeli, the President of the state, members of Knesset, cabinet members and the heads of the defense establishment must realize, once and for all: for Netanyahu to continue as prime minister at this fateful time is to gamble with Israel’s future.”
The daily’s anger goes well beyond Netanyahu’s Oct. 28 post on X blaming the security services, describing him as “the most irresponsible leader in the history of the State.” But, it adds, “all of Netanyahu’s political crimes, which are too numerous to list here, are dwarfed by this wanton action against the heads of the defense establishment in wartime.” The apology he made hours after attacking the security establishment “is meaningless,” Haaretz added.
