Former Shin Bet chief Nadav Argaman told Israel’s Channel 12 that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is unfit for office and is leading Israel to its doom.
“Netanyahu is not fit to be prime minister of Israel,” Argaman, who led the Shin Bet, the Israeli Security Agency, between 2016 and 2021, said in the interview which appeared on April 11.
“Morally he cannot [run for office again]. He is responsible for a monumental failure. He is responsible. There’s no one else… Someone who does not take responsibility for a failure of this magnitude is not fit to be a leader of the Jewish people.” He added that Israel was “already in the abyss, and if Bibi Netanyahu does not leave office—it will be our doom… I think if the State of Israel doesn’t get its act together and fast, we’ll reach some very, very, very bad places.”
Argaman repeated the details of how Netanyahu had supported Hamas supposedly to buy calm. And while his service calls for operational plans to weaken Hamas, he said “Bibi preferred to weaken the Palestinian Authority... Looking at the bottom line, Bibi’s strategy for Israel’s national security over the past decade was an abject failure,” he said.
Pointing to Netynahu’s attempt to push judicial reforms so he would not be prosecuted for corruption which led to huge anti-government demonstrations, Argaman said, “Bibi deliberately ripped apart Israeli society in order to govern. In order for us to get out of the abyss there is a single condition, and the condition is that we replace this disastrous government.”
When asked whether it was prudent to hold elections during the Gaza war, he said, “I think the war is over. We are fighting, [but] not at war.” He noted that only “small forces” were still stationed in the Gaza Strip. “Israel should have headed to elections yesterday...Ultimately, the ones who will topple the government are the people.”
Argaman took strong swipes against the lunatic ministers in Netynahu’s government especially,
Security minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who he said should be called the “national disaster minister.” He also slammed Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, another lunatic from the extreme right wing National Religious Party.
Although Argaman said Israel’s top security officials would also need to take responsibility for their failure and resign, but not before Netynahu and his government are gone. “Bibi can’t appoint the next Shin Bet chief. He can’t appoint the next military chief of staff,” said Argaman. “From my point of view, this government does not have a mandate to appoint the heads of the [defense] bodies.” He added his fear was that “if Netanyahu appointed successors, he would appoint persons who could harm Israeli democracy, because I suspect Bibi of harming Israeli democracy.”
Argaman also made strong accusations that Netynahu is weakening Israel’s judicial institutions and therefore its democracy. “The Prison Service has fallen, the Israel Police is in the process, and I’m very wary there will be an attempt to use October 7 to undermine the Shin Bet and the Israel Defense Forces,” said Argaman, adding that “if the Shin Bet and the justice system fall, then Israeli democracy will fall.”
