Labor-Meretz Leader Yair Golan Accuses Israel of Killing Babies as a Hobby

[David__77]

Yair Golan, chairman of the Democrats party, a hybrid of the Labor and Meretz parties, on Tuesday morning told Reshet Bet radio that “Israel is on the path to becoming an apartheid state, like the South Africa of the past, unless it returns to being a rational, democratic nation.”

And then, in an effort to define what might be a rational, democratic nation, Golan explained: “A sane state does not wage war against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not set itself the goal of expelling a population.”

He added, “What’s happening is utterly shocking. It is inconceivable that we, the Jewish people—who have endured centuries of persecution, pogroms, and even genocide, and who have long stood as a symbol of moral responsibility both in human and Jewish terms—should now be the ones engaging in actions that are fundamentally unacceptable.”

…

https://www.jewishpress.com/news/left-vs-right/labor-meretz-leader-yair-golan-accuses-israel-of-killing-babies-as-a-hobby/2025/05/20/

[Dave Bowman]

1. And yet I keep seing people defending Israel's actions at all cost.

This is despicable.

[Beastly Boy]

2. His remarks are dusgusting, and it will cost him many votes in the next election

but can you imagine any opposition leader in any neighboring country saying anything remotely resembling this vitriol and live to tell about it?

[David__77]

3. Some people consider the killings of babies he refers to be disgusting.

[Beastly Boy]

4. Some people consider the killings of all babies to be disgusting.

But most people deplore politicians who exploit their deaths in grotesquely incendiary political speeches to gain otherwise non-existent exposure in the media.

And then, on a rare occasion, there are people who aid and abet this despicable practice.

[Israeli]

9. You are going by the English media

Yair Golan is with us on the streets not a day goes by he isnt in the Hebrew media .

[Beastly Boy]

13. I am responding to references from the English media.

And the biases inherent in it. Other references will not be appreciated on DU.

I am fully aware of the inadequacy of these responses, but they originate with the inadequacies I am responding to. All I am trying to do is flush out the biases in the posts, not rationally discussing the many other facets of the story which will not be understood and/or ignored outright.

[Israeli]

6. I very much doubt that

it will cost him votes , the opposite .

[Beastly Boy]

7. I hope you are right, but Golan just irredeamably discredited himself in my eyes.

[Israeli]

10. He could have chosen his words more carefully

but he is a warrior not a politician , same could be said of Benny Gantz only Gantz leans to the right and Yair to the left .
All of his political rivals are having a field day and why ?
Latest polls gave him 17 seats , ......more than Gantz or Lapid .

You dont know who he is like we do ......

Former PM Ehud Barak defends Yair Golan amid outcry over ‘killing babies’ accusation

Former Labor prime minister Ehud Barak defends The Democrats chairman Yair Golan following widespread outrage over a statement he made during a radio interview on Tuesday morning, alleging that Israel was killing babies in Gaza “as a hobby.”

“Yair Golan is a brave, direct man [and] if I had to go on a raid tonight or a tough political campaign tomorrow, I would prefer him by my side over all his detractors and condemners of the last few hours,” Barak, an ex-IDF chief of staff, tweets.

“Even if it would have been better if he had chosen one or two other words, it is clear that he meant the political leadership, not the fighters,” Barak insists.

Source : https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/former-pm-ehud-barak-defends-yair-golan-amid-outcry-over-killing-babies-accusation/#:~:text=Former%20Labor%20prime%20minister%20Ehud%20Barak%20defends%20The,was%20killing%20babies%20in%20Gaza%20%E2%80%9Cas%20a%20hobby.%E2%80%9D

[Beastly Boy]

11. If Golan represents the Labor/Meretz coalition, he is a politician.

I am not questioning his bravery and past service to the country. They are impeccable. Which makes his current statement even more deplorable. since it is going to be contrasted with his past record. I am appalled at the irreparable damage he made with his statement to the State of Israel and its people.

Just look at the responses to the OP. They are a tiny indicator of how his words will be used to smear the State and the nation of Israel all over the mass and social media. And I am not even mentioning the mainstream Israelis many of whom are certain to take offense over his words. Golan is driving them directly into Bennett's arms.

The damage, first and foremost to his coalition, is done. No backpeddling can repair it. I am still hoping with all my might that I am wrong, but I don't see how Golan can repair this stain on his reputation before the next elections.

[Israeli]

15. We have a habit of electing warriors

doesn't mean they make good politicians .....Benny Gantz is a great example .

Golan stands for a two state solution Naftali Bennett does not , he isnt even willing to accept the Arab parties within
his coalition ......Golan will .
Correct me if I am wrong but didnt President Biden stand for a two state solution ??????????

Lets wait for the next elections , k ?

[Beastly Boy]

19. Any reasonable person will stand for a two state solution.

Last edited Sat May 24, 2025, 09:07 AM - Edit history (1)

Not for ideological reasons but for practical ones.

Sharon, a right wing Likudnik, gave up Gaza for practical reasons. Begin, a right wing Likudnik and a former terrorist, gave up Sinai for practical reasons. Not that I ever want to see Bennett at the head of Israeli government.

[Israeli]

5. Yair Golan: When Ministers Celebrate Death and Starvation of Children, It Must Be Said.

Democratic Party chairman Yair Golan made a statement after claiming this morning that 'a sane country does not kill babies as a hobby,' saying: 'The war in Gaza began as a firm and correct response to Hamas's attack, but what started as a just campaign has been turned by this failed government into a purposeless war.' He added: 'When government ministers celebrate death and starvation of children, it must be said. I was referring only to the government - not to the IDF.' According to him, 'A government that says hostages can be abandoned and children should be starved sounds like a Hamas spokesperson. Anyone who truly cares about the IDF must stand up to this government.'
(Dan Raban)

Source : https://www.ynetnews.com/category/3089

[Beastly Boy]

8. The JP article cited in the OP quotes Golan as saying

“Israel is on the path to becoming an apartheid state, like the South Africa of the past, unless it returns to being a rational, democratic nation.”

And then, “A sane state does not wage war against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not set itself the goal of expelling a population.”

and “What’s happening is utterly shocking. It is inconceivable that we, the Jewish people—who have endured centuries of persecution, pogroms, and even genocide, and who have long stood as a symbol of moral responsibility both in human and Jewish terms—should now be the ones engaging in actions that are fundamentally unacceptable.”

He is clearly referring to the State of Israel and to the nation, a number of times, and not to its governemnt.

He'd better backpeddle from this if what he said is only due to a stupid choice of words.

[Israeli]

12. He is saying out loud what we on the left are thinking

The Uncomfortable Truth: Yair Golan Is Right About What Israel Is Becoming

Yair Golan spoke a truth that is uncomfortable to the Israeli ear.

That is the most accurate explanation for the attack on MK Yair Golan from nearly the entire political spectrum, from the extreme right to the moderate center, in the wake of his remarks on Tuesday.

"Israel is on the path to becoming a pariah state, like South Africa once was, if it does not return to acting like a sane country," the chair of the Democrats party said. "A sane state does not wage war against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby and does not set goals for itself such as the expulsion of a population," he added.

It was precisely because Golan spoke the truth that the attack was so comprehensive. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose relationship to the truth is known to all, accused Golan of "outrageous incitement against our soldiers and against the State of Israel." Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar warned that Golan's remarks "will certainly add fuel to the fire of antisemitism." Defense Minister Yisrael Katz called them "vile blood libel" and said Golan "must be ostracized from public life." Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi called the lawmaker a "terrorist," while the architect of the government coup, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, called for him to be stripped of his rank of major general.

The operation in Gaza is the latest attempt to preserve Netanyahu's extremist coalition
Netanyahu capitulated – but still alienated Trump and infuriated the enlightened world
Yair Lapid abandoned the left and is fighting the wars of the past
The hysteria crossed the imaginary lines of the opposition. Yisrael Beiteinu party leader Avigdor Lieberman accused Golan of harming national security. National Unity Party chair Benny Gantz claimed that Golan's remarks "endanger the freedom of our soldiers," while opposition leader and Yesh Atid chair Yair Lapid was quick to declare that "the statement that Israel Defense Forces soldiers kill babies as a hobby is wrong and a gift to our enemies." Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett chose to break his silence to remind us all that "the one who murders babies is Hamas, and Hamas alone."

The few who are fighting to end the war are being silenced and persecuted. Nine activists were arrested this week when they marched from Sderot to the Gaza border in protest of the expanded assault. They tried to block the road to Kibbutz Nir Am – and were arrested for "disturbing the peace," "assaulting a police officer" and "behavior that could disrupt the peace."
Among those arrested was Alon-Lee Green, the national director of Standing Together, which organized the demonstration. Make no mistake: These are political arrests.

The protesters (who have been placed under house arrest, for now) were arrested because they were disrupting the real mission: destroying what is left of the Strip, while exploiting the humanitarian aid to force out the population. This is not speculation, it is policy.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said it openly: The current operation is being conducted "with an intensity not seen since the beginning of the war," while destroying "what is left of the Strip" and "moving the population around," until it leaves "with God's help to third countries within the framework of the Trump plan."

The detainees must be released immediately. The only way to defend the truth is to join those who dare to speak it. To join the protest, to call for an end to the fighting and the killing and for the release of the hostages.

The above article is Haaretz's lead editorial, as published in the Hebrew and English newspapers in Israel.

Source : Haaretz

Link : https://archive.md/2ZOca#selection-671.0-1676.0

[Beastly Boy]

14. Israel's left has the legitimacy of saying this as Israelis speaking of the country they love.

But you know full well that the global far Left, not to mention the Islamist (and fascist supremacist) right wing haters who want to annihilate Israel and the Jews, will take full advantage of what Golan said in pushing their anti-Israel, Anti Israeli and antisemitic agendas. This concerns me directly as a diaspora Jew, not just you in Israel. As they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

And as far as Israeli politics, I don't know how many supporters Israel's Left will be losing to speak and act on behalf of the nation.

[Israeli]

16. Bibi just made a televised address

where he ranted and raved against Yair and said much along the lines of the above .
The truth hurts .

[Beastly Boy]

18. I posted what I did without ever listening to Bibi.

Perhaps he listened to me before giving his address and appropriated a popular sentiment for his rant. Politicians do that.

[Israeli]

17. Israel's Opposition Leaders Must Call Out the Real Outrages - While They Still Have a Chance

So calling for the murder of Gazan children is acceptable but explaining that this is insane is beyond the pale? Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz have to be more like Yair Golan, whom the government is keen to bar from the next election

Zehava Galon

With the storm dying down, one thing is clear: If Yair Golan had called for the killing of babies in Gaza, no one in the cabinet would have flinched. I know this because, the same day Golan made his remarks, former far-right MK Moshe Feiglin said that every baby in Gaza is an enemy. But that didn't interest the government at all.

"The enemy isn't Hamas, nor is it Hamas' military wing," our local Lao Tse said, explaining his doctrine as if he were the ancient Chinese philosopher. Lest there be any ambiguity, he added: "It's every child, every baby."

So calling for the murder of children is acceptable but explaining that this is insane is beyond the pale.

Those are the standards the cabinet is promoting. None of its members even bothered pretending they were shocked by Feiglin's comments, maybe because even they realize they live in glass houses. Instead, we got the usual self-righteous condemnations, with one change: According to the latest talking points, Golan, the head of the left-leaning Democrats party, shouldn't be allowed to run in the next election.

Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, for example, wrote that "a sane country wouldn't allow guys like Yair Golan, Bennett's natural partner, to set foot in its parliament." He was referring to former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who plans to form a new party and run in the next election. And Likud's Tally Gotliv, who said this week that the hostages have been brainwashed by Hamas, deemed Golan's comment "aiding the enemy in wartime."

Pro-government Channel 14 television swiftly reported on a poll examining whether the public wanted Golan barred from the next election. The next day, Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party announced that it planned to amend a Basic Law and bar Golan from running. And Thursday, Likud blamed him for the terror attack that killed two Israeli Embassy staffers in Washington.

All these zeros, thanks to whom a marginal terrorist organization managed to massacre many hundreds of Israelis, are now trying to ban a man who risked his life to save Israelis from that massacre.

And all this is happening in a country that, for nearly two years, has been silent in the face of clear calls for genocide. Such statements violate Israeli law, but in today's Israel, there is no penalty for them.

Nor was it an accident that Feiglin chose Channel 14 for his assertion that every baby in Gaza is an enemy. This channel is a sympathetic platform for such messages. Zulat and two other civil society organizations – the Democratic Bloc and the Movement for Fair Regulation – have filed a petition to the High Court via attorneys Michael Sfard and Einat Gayer demanding that criminal investigations be opened into such statements.

Here are a few other examples from Channel 14. "Now there really needs to be total destruction. We shouldn't fear words like, say, 'humanitarian disaster.'" (Itamar Fleischmann, November 26, 2023)

"We need to bomb indiscriminately. We make distinctions, and that isn't good. … The air force could work a little harder and not make distinctions between involved and uninvolved people." (Jacob Bardugo, November 2, 2023)

"There's a commandment to destroy Amalek … and Gaza is Amalek, and we need to destroy the Amalekites." (Shimon Riklin, February 11, 2024)

"Every day we kill 100 terrorists? … There are 2.5 million terrorists there." (Eliyahu Yosian, February 25, 2024)

There are countless other examples. The only insanity greater than the fact that murderous scumbags like this aren't in prison is the performance of the opposition, which is crawling on its belly to meet the scumbags' deranged standards.

Why did opposition leaders Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz, and even our honorable president, Isaac Herzog, rush to condemn Golan of all people? Where did they disappear to when far more deranged things were said here? This is what shocks them?

What will happen when the government tries to prevent Golan from running for the Knesset? In the best case, they'll mutter that he's an extremist and belongs in Syria, but, well, we're a democracy. In the worst case, they'll once again vote according to the moral standards set by Netanyahu and his ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.

It's time for opposition lawmakers to come to their senses and stop acting as Netanyahu's willing servants. We've reached the 11th hour. If they don't dig deep inside themselves and find their consciences, they may not get the chance again.

Source : Haaretz
Link : https://archive.md/BdSRu

[vanessa_ca]

20. This!

"We've reached the 11th hour. If they don't dig deep inside themselves and find their consciences, they may not get the chance again."

This applies to everyone, all of us.

"Palestine is the issue of our time....where you stand on this issue tells you whether you have a heart that's open and functioning."

Gabor Maté on Gaza: 'The Moral Issue of Our Time'

[lapucelle]

22. Chris Hedges hates Democrats, hates the Democratic Party, and has endorsed and voted for third part candidates

for the last 25 years.

No one should be dumping his trash here.

[vanessa_ca]

24. Truth hurts so attack the messenger. Attack the message of a Holocaust survivor. Shame. EOM

[lapucelle]

25. Folks are free to trust whomever third party ratfucker Chris Hedges platforms.

It’s called bias confirmation.

Expecting other people to take it seriously is another matter.

[Israeli]

21. Yair is now receiving death threats

This is a Hebrew link but it will come out soon enough in the english media

https://www.srugim.co.il/1130939-%D7%97%D7%9B-%D7%9C%D7%A9%D7%A2%D7%91%D7%A8-%D7%98%D7%95%D7%A2%D7%9F-%D7%99%D7%90%D7%99%D7%A8-%D7%92%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%9F-%D7%91%D7%A1%D7%9B%D7%A0%D7%AA-%D7%97%D7%99%D7%99%D7%9D

This is what happens here when you speak the truth .

[lapucelle]

23. Didn't he try to walk back his original claim? N/T

[Israeli]

26. If you want to describe it that way

Dont you read before you post ???????

See my post above ......post number 5 .

[lapucelle]

28. What are yo talking about?

[Israeli]

27. Why Israel's First Kahanist Government Is Libeling Yair Golan

It should have been clear to any intelligent person who listened to the interview with Yair Golan, the chairman of the Democrats party, on Kan Bet radio last Tuesday – in which he said that "a sane country doesn't wage war against civilians, doesn't kill children as a hobby and doesn't set itself the goal of expelling the population" – that his statements were aimed at the country's current leadership, not Israel Defense Forces soldiers.

Indeed, our first Kahanist government is deliberately and maliciously waging war against civilians in the Gaza Strip, including killing tens of thousands of children, to feed its base's hunger for vengeance. Similarly, it indeed seeks to expel Gaza's civilian population, or at least to push it into southern Gaza, so that it can renew its messianic settlement enterprise there. And all this is being done at the expense of the hostages' lives.

To achieve these criminal goals, our first Kahanist government is using the IDF. Via Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir – who looks and sounds like a decent man, but is demonstrating blind loyalty to the government no matter how criminal it is – it has ordered IDF soldiers and pilots to conduct operations whose declared goal is to end Hamas' rule and protect Israel's security, but whose real goal is to finish "redeeming the land." And the road to that goal is strewn with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

It's important to stress that not only do the government's Kahanist goals contribute nothing to a military victory over Hamas, but they actually do the opposite. Ensuring that Kahanism and messianism gain ground in Gaza would actually require the permanent existence of active jihadist elements in the territory to provide the ultimate justification for the continuation of the Jewish jihad.

In other words, IDF soldiers are currently mired in the quagmire of an obscene, suicidal war in which insult has been added to injury. The indiscriminate killing of civilians and their expulsion is being carried out with a cynical efforts to achieving another Kahanist goal – leaving the fragments of our "asset," Hamas, in power, apparently confined to a limited area of southern Gaza.

Yet when Yair Golan got up and publicly revealed the meaning of the genocidal Kahanist vision espoused by the leaders of our current government of Jewish jihad, those leaders immediately seized on "IDF soldiers" as a human shield against Golan's criticism in a transparent effort to depict this criticism as an attack on the army.

There are deep-seated reasons why both the governing coalition and the "opposition" rushed to pin a false libel on Golan and describe him as someone who had cast doubt on the army's moral motives. After all, the root of Golan's strength among the public these days lies in the fact that he is someone who lives the Israeli security experience in his very bones.

Golan, who displayed admirable heroism on October 7, 2023 when he donned his uniform and headed south to save civilians from the massacre, doesn't hide his love for the IDF. As a result, he is even occasionally accused of "militarism" by parts of the left.

Given this, both the right and the center see Golan as a genuine electoral threat. Consequently, they would undoubtedly be happy to "strip him of his rank," as Justice Minister Yariv Levin – a vile man who isn't ashamed to comment on security issues despite his indirect but clear responsibility for the bloodbath of October 7 – so contemptibly urged.

Golan therefore did well to convene a press conference and refute the libel. And he would be wise to continue correctly pointing out the atrocities of our first Kahanist government while constantly reiterating what ought to be self-evident but, in the post-truth era, apparently needs to be explained over and over – it's not the IDF, but this evil government that bears exclusive responsibility for the policy of making war on civilians, killing children and expelling Gaza's population.

Will this affair damage Golan and his Democrats party? In the long run, Golan might even benefit from it. Nobody can strip him of his security authenticity (including our current incompetent embodiment of security, Defense Minister Israel Katz, who pathetically "ordered" the IDF not to call Golan up for reserve duty and forbade him to enter army bases or wear his uniform). But the more Golan makes clear the extent of the moral and security destruction wrought by the government's Kahanist policy, the greater his chances of winning the trust of a broader segment of Israelis.

Source : Haaretz

Link : https://archive.md/TVdzW#selection-1119.0-1123.261