Israeli opposition figures accuse Netanyahu of fueling tensions with Türkiye for political survival

Former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak and opposition leader Yair Golan have accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of deliberately fueling tensions with Türkiye following Israel’s latest strike on an airport in northern Syria. Yaalon said Thursday that the attack had drawn condemnation from the US and accused Netanyahu of keeping Israel’s war fronts open while seeking to create new ones to avoid accountability for the Oct. 7 attack. He described Netanyahu as ultimately responsible for the attack and Israel’s subsequent crisis, claiming the premier needed the war to continue to prevent the establishment of a state commission of inquiry. A day earlier, Barak described Netanyahu’s “deliberate” escalation of tensions with Türkiye as “reckless and stupid.” “It is hard to decide which one it is more,” Barak wrote on the US social media platform X. He claimed the escalation “strongly reeks of a political motive” to enter elections amid a series of security tensions that would fuel public anxiety. Noting that Türkiye is “neither Iran nor Assad’s Syria,” Barak said there was no dispute with Ankara that could not be resolved, mitigated or postponed through discreet contacts coordinated with the US. “There is no strategic problem with Türkiye that cannot be resolved, mitigated, or postponed over the long term through discreet contacts coordinated with the United States and its influence in Türkiye and Syria. Netanyahu has completely gone off the rails,” he said. Golan, the leader of Israel’s Democrats party, also called the strike a “provocative and dangerous” move, saying it was deepening a rift between Israel and its allies, particularly the US, and bringing the country closer to a confrontation with Türkiye. “Military force is once again being used for political considerations, and once again Israel is paying the price in terms of its security,” he said on X. Golan accused Netanyahu of being an “extremist and unreliable” actor who could not be trusted to build a stable regional framework, arguing that the premier was eroding confidence in Israel and driving away its partners and allies. “Israel needs leadership that knows how to use force to achieve security, not to create another war for political survival,” he said. Yaalon similarly accused Netanyahu of exploiting regional conflicts for political survival. He claimed that after the Oct. 7 attack, Netanyahu adopted the view of what Yaalon called “messianists” that the attack was a “miracle” that could be exploited to wage a “Gog and Magog war.” Yaalon alleged that the objective was to conquer the “Promised Land,” stretching from the Euphrates River in the north to the “Brook of Egypt” in the south, clear it of non-Jews and settle it with Jews. On Syria, Yaalon argued that Israel had missed an opportunity following blows dealt to Hezbollah and the Iranian presence. Regarding the Gaza Strip, he claimed US President Donald Trump had imposed a “Board of Peace,” including Türkiye and Qatar, as well as a “15-point document” on Netanyahu, which he described as “bad for Israel.” On Lebanon, Yaalon claimed Trump was seeking to impose an arrangement on Netanyahu that “could be good for Israel,” but that the Israeli premier was evading it. Turning to Iran, he claimed Netanyahu had sought to overthrow the government to secure an achievement that would compensate for what he described as the premier’s failures. Yaalon called the outcome a “farce” and claimed that it had caused a crisis with Trump. He also accused Netanyahu of seeking to inflame tensions in the occupied West Bank through people he described as “pogromists,” whom he alleged were receiving support and encouragement from Israeli government ministers. Yaalon said Netanyahu was disregarding what he called a “red card” from US Ambassador Mike Huckabee and claimed that attacks were continuing. He argued that the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem offered Netanyahu the best opportunity to ignite another war. Yaalon urged Israeli opposition leaders to concentrate their efforts on removing Netanyahu from power to save the lives of civilians and soldiers and “prevent destruction.”