Yair Golan’s statement this week that Israel kills babies as a “hobby” is not just false; it is deeply damaging. It hands ammunition to Israel’s detractors, emboldens antisemites, and stains the reputation of a country already fighting an uphill battle for legitimacy on the world stage.
Equally disturbing was the claim made by former prime minister Ehud Olmert in a BBC interview, suggesting that the expanded IDF operation in Gaza is on its way to becoming a war crime.
Do these kinds of comments help return the hostages? Do they strengthen Israel’s case on the world stage? Do they make Israeli soldiers safer as they travel abroad? The answer to all of these is a resounding no.
Contrary to what one minister claimed, the shooter who murdered two Israeli embassy staff members in Washington on Wednesday night did not need Olmert or Golan to justify his violence. But we also cannot pretend that words don’t matter.
Still, let’s not fool ourselves into thinking this rhetoric comes only from the Left.
Problematic statements from the Israeli Right and Left
A few months ago, as the International Court of Justice was hearing genocide allegations against Israel, Likud MK Moshe Saada casually told a radio host that he had “no problem that kids in Gaza will die.” On Wednesday, Moshe Feiglin, once a leading Likud lawmaker and now a regular Channel 14 commentator, said, “All of the babies in Gaza are the enemy.”
His solution? “Conquer Gaza and settle it without a single Gazan child who is there.” You might wonder: Why care what Feiglin says? He’s not in the Knesset. But then again, neither is Golan. Neither is Olmert. We can’t selectively ignore incitement based on political convenience.
And then there are sitting ministers. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich recently declared that Israel is “destroying everything that is left in Gaza.” Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu said a month into the war that Israel should consider dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza, throwing away more than 75 years of nuclear ambiguity.
Zvi Sukkot, a member of Smotrich’s party, remarked just a few days ago that Israel could kill 100 Palestinians a day and “no one cares.” Not only does this show a deep indifference to human life, but it also shows an astonishing ignorance of what is happening in the world.
Did Sukkot not hear about the threat by the UK, Canada, and France to take “concrete action” against Israel if the war does not end? Has he not noticed the daylight between Jerusalem and US President Donald Trump’s administration? Does he really think no one cares?
And yet, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finally gave his first press conference in half a year this week, he singled out Golan, ignoring the chorus of radical rhetoric coming from within his own political camp.
THAT SELECTIVE outrage reveals a deeper problem: Israel is not being managed today. There is no coherent message, no functional government communications team, and no clarity about what the war is even about anymore. The National Information Directorate, the very body meant to guide public messaging, has remained unstaffed for more than 15 months during a war when public diplomacy is vital for preserving the legitimacy to continue fighting.
At his press conference, Netanyahu dusted off Trump’s idea of evacuating Gaza’s civilian population and announced that he has adopted it as official Israeli policy. Trump himself hasn’t mentioned the plan in weeks, but somehow, it has re-emerged because it offers yet another way to extend the war by setting another blurry goal with no measurable endpoint.
The same confusion surrounds the hostages. Netanyahu said that even if a deal is struck, it won’t mean the war ends but only a temporary ceasefire. He then promised, again, that Israel would win.
“I don’t want to reveal the plans,” he said, “but it will happen. We will reach a decisive outcome and a different future for Gaza.”
We’ve been hearing versions of that “plan” for 19 months – a plan that cannot be revealed and promises of a decisive outcome that is just around the corner. But the reality is starker: There does not seem to be a plan. There are only talking points and reactive decisions based on constantly changing military and political pressures.
One day, the priority is rescuing hostages. The next, it’s eliminating Hamas. One day, the IDF is being ordered to reoccupy Gaza and distribute humanitarian aid. The next day, the government declares that not a gram of flour will enter Gaza, and then a few days later, it does an Olympic-style backflip and announces that US defense contractors will oversee aid deliveries.
Inconsistency is the defining feature of Israel’s government today. There is no accountability, truth, or consequence for misinformation or extreme statements.
Netanyahu, for example, said on Wednesday that the October 7 failures need to be investigated, while he is the person who has been blocking any formal inquiry.
He calls for an investigation, when, in reality, he has been purging the state of anyone who was in their job that day: the defense minister, the IDF chief of staff, and now the head of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) who will soon step down. Who remains untouched? You know the answer.
AND WHEN history becomes inconvenient, it gets rewritten.
The billions transferred to Hamas by Qatar, approved and encouraged by Netanyahu, are now described as “small money,” used only for electricity and sewage. This narrative is rejected by the most senior officials in the defense establishment, but it also ignores basic logic: Even if some money went to public services, it freed up other funds for the terror tunnels, rockets, and death squads.
Then there’s Netanyahu’s portrayal of the October 7 attack itself. According to him, Hamas invaded Israel with “flip-flops, Kalashnikovs, and pickup trucks”, making it seem like it was a group of ragtag intruders. The truth? It was a well-trained, heavily armed terror army that used drones, anti-tank missiles, and maritime commandos in a multi-front invasion.
Why would he want to downplay the severity? The answer is obvious. If it was an organized military, then it organized and assembled while he ignored it. If it was a group of terrorists in flip-flops, then it was random and something that no one could have seen coming.
And when Netanyahu falsely claimed that nothing happened at Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha, even though dozens of terrorists invaded the community and four residents were murdered, he wasn’t just wrong; he was ignoring the trauma of citizens of this country. Has Netanyahu been to Ein Hashlosha since October 7? No, just like he has not visited Nir Oz, where one in four residents was either murdered or taken hostage by Hamas.
This is what happens when reality no longer matters. When you can say anything, rewrite anything, and not face any consequences.
I can go outside at noon and say it’s night. You can tell me it’s raining during a drought. And in today’s Israel, the truth is just another opinion, another version of a story to be spun, diluted, or ignored.
This is not about Left versus Right. This is about the collapse of the moral fabric that holds a society together. When facts no longer matter and responsibility is a relic, people are free to say what they want and to drag the country along a path of never-ending crises.
Israel is not just fighting a war in Gaza. It is fighting a war for its soul that requires accountability, clarity, and the courage to tell the truth. Until that changes, the tragedy will not end. It will only deepen.
The writer is a co-author of a forthcoming book, While Israel Slept, about the October 7 Hamas attacks, a senior fellow at the JPPI, and a former editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post.