Former Israeli official calls on Israeli leaders to formulate a unified request for Netanyahu’s resignation and go to early elections

A former Israeli security official called on all former political and security leaders to formulate a unified demand calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and early elections.

This came in a post published by former Deputy Chairman of the National Security Council, Eran Etzion, on X on Monday evening, in which he said, “We’re in an unprecedented state of emergency”.

Etzion addressed all the former prime ministers who are still alive: Yair Lapid, Naftali Bennett, Ehud Olmert, Ehud Barak, and former President Reuven Rivlin.

He also addressed former Defense Ministers Moshe Ya’alon, Shaul Mofaz, Amir Peretz, Avigdor Lieberman and current Defense Minister Yoav Galant.

He also addressed his speech to former Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, the heads of the General Staff, the Shin Bet, the Mossad, the Knesset, and all former legal advisers to the government.

Addressing them, he said, “What is required of you all is to come together and formulate an unambiguous demand for Netanyahu’s resignation, the dissolution of the Knesset, and the immediate holding of elections”.

He added, “Ask to meet him (Netanyahu) and look him in the eyes, put the request on the table and don’t leave until he signs it,” adding, “The vast majority of the public will be with you and support you”.

The current government was formed following the elections held at the end of 2022 and its term is supposed to last for 4 years.

The opposition parties are pressing for early elections, but Netanyahu refuses to do so in light of the ongoing war on Gaza.

On Monday, anger grew among the political class opposing Netanyahu in Israel, after right-wing demonstrators, including ministers, Knesset members and armed soldiers, stormed two military bases in southern and central Israel.

Former Israeli officials warned that storming the Sde Teiman and Beit Lid bases was a prelude to the disintegration of the Israeli army and the formation of military militias.

Hundreds of demonstrators stormed the notorious Sde Teiman camp in the south after the arrest of 10 reserve soldiers accused of sexually assaulting a Palestinian prisoner from Gaza in a prison affiliated with the camp.

They later stormed the Beit Lid base, and the military court inside it, where the accused soldiers were being investigated, amid violent confrontations with the military police and base security, according to Haaretz newspaper.

In recent months, there have been many reports denouncing the attacks on Palestinian prisoners from the Gaza Strip in Sde Teiman prison, and the Israeli authorities usually claim to be investigating the matter without tangible results.

The Israeli Supreme Court is considering a petition submitted by Israeli human rights organizations to close the notorious Sde Teiman prison, where Palestinian detainees are subjected to systematic torture, sexual assault, and medical neglect, and Israel prevents any human rights delegations from visiting to assess their conditions.