Writer and poet Eyal Megged, who was at one point Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's best friend, penned a column in Haaretz on Sunday in which he stated that the Prime Minister is destroying Israel.
"He will be the destroyer of the country since he has no other choice," he wrote. "Netanyahu is captive to the madness of a dictator's grandeur, who sees the country as his private property. He has become so used to ruling that he is not able to put up with a situation where someone else will take his place.
"For him, vacating the government is like transferring ownership of property. Bibi is like a jealous husband, who cannot imagine his wife in the arms of another. It is an incurable disorder. Nevertheless, he's a man whom I had considered a friend, and more importantly, a statesman whose main concern is the safety and security of Israel."
Magad also wrote that he felt deeply ashamed that the prime minister has no shame, and even called him a "tyrant."
He also wrote that Netanyahu will pay any price at the expense of the public in Israel, provided that his rule does not fall "and therefore, to the horror of it, there is no chance that the war will end in the foreseeable future. Neither voluntarily nor according to logic. Its continuation forever is the only barrier that will prevent his personal catastrophe.
"The war will end only with the overthrow of Netanyahu, those who are mistaken in the illusion that it is possible to wait for the wheels of democracy in their slow journey towards the change of power - especially those who still adhere to Netanyahu - better disillusion themselves."
"Time and again we witness decisions made not for our benefit, but for Netanyahu's personal benefit in his eyes. But the rate of destruction is fast and predatory, and if we still want our state, we must speed up the move that will prevent this destruction."
Magad stands behind every word he wrote in Haaretz
In January, Magad published a column in Haaretz against Netanyahu, after which he explained in an interview to Erez and Avri on Channel 12 why he stands behind every word he wrote in the article. "I don't think he was always a dictator, but it is possible that he increasingly developed the personality of a dictator, where all his thoughts are focused on remaining in power."
In response to the question of whether he paid a price for his friendship with the Prime Minister, he answered, "It is clear that the friendship with Netanyahu complicated me in the distant cultural-social environment. I lost a great many readers but I have never regretted it."
"I got to know Netanyahu when he was defeated and when they said he was finished, which they have said dozens of times since then and it hasn’t happened," he said. "I didn't think I was getting to know a current prime minister but a former prime minister. There was something very charming and very friendly about him. He is very attentive to all kinds of unconventional things in political policy. What fascinated me was that together we breathed the fresh and sharp air of failure. I very much identify with people who breathe this air, it's the same air I've breathed quite a bit."
Magad was asked if he had tried to contact him before the article. He responded, "I have tried more than once since the war started. I tried to understand what was happening there inside the fortress that he is surrounded by, the human shields of all kinds of mortals. I tried to convey to him messages that he must recognize and take responsibility.
"He was the main contractor of the system. How can he ignore this altogether, spout some trivial and disgusting thing when he says, 'I'll also answer questions'? How can you let such a person lead the camp? Where is his self-respect, what happened to him? He wasn't like that."