Netanyahu's Cousin Quits Likud, Citing Government Failures
Translated & summarized from Ice by baba
Professor Nathan Netanyahu, a cousin of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, announced he is suspending his Likud party membership and will not vote for them. He cited four major failings: the judicial overhaul, the security policy leading to the October 7th massacre, government neglect in social services, and the refusal to accept responsibility. He criticized the government's appeasement of Hamas and the granting of military service exemptions to Haredi men. Netanyahu stated he would rejoin if a new leadership emerges.
The story in 6 lines · by baba
- Nathan Netanyahu, cousin of PM Benjamin Netanyahu, suspended his Likud membership over government failures.
- He cited the judicial overhaul, security policy, social neglect, and lack of accountability as key issues.
- Netanyahu criticized the government's appeasement of Hamas and Haredi military exemptions.
- He warned the judicial overhaul could lead to dictatorial characteristics and harm national cohesion.
- He referenced the "security conception that shattered" following the October 7th massacre.
- He stated he would rejoin Likud if a new, untainted leadership takes over.
Professor Nathan Netanyahu, a cousin of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a long-time right-wing supporter, has announced he is suspending his membership in the Likud party and will not vote for it. A professor emeritus of computer science at Bar-Ilan University, Nathan Netanyahu has a history of right-wing activism, including signing a petition against the 2005 disengagement plan.
In a critical article titled "This Time I Will Not Vote for Likud - On Three Crimes of the Israeli Government and Four I Will Not Choose Them!", he outlined four major moral and public failings of the current government. He stated that while he comes from the national-liberal right, Likud has "abandoned its original values and its leaders have brought deep national despair upon the country."
The first "crime" cited is the promotion of judicial overhaul, which he warned in April 2023 would concentrate excessive power and lead to dictatorial characteristics, harming national cohesion and ignoring security warnings. The second is the "security conception that shattered," criticizing the prime minister's long-standing policy of appeasing Hamas through Qatari money and economic concessions, which allowed the organization to grow stronger, culminating in the October 7th massacre and the ongoing war.
As the third failing, he pointed to the government's neglect of education, health, transportation, and the cost of living, contrasting it with the mobilization of civil society and reservists. He also sharply criticized the advancement of exemptions from military service for the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community for coalition survival, calling it a "gross trampling of the principle of equal burden."
Finally, under the heading "And Four I Will Not Choose Them," he addressed the government's refusal to accept responsibility, referencing President Truman's "The buck stops here" sign. He accused the prime minister of consistently blaming others and pointed to the refusal to establish a state commission of inquiry into the October 7th events, alongside attacks on the judiciary and "gatekeepers," and suspicions concerning his office staff. Professor Netanyahu concluded that he would not vote for the current Likud leadership and would reconsider his membership when a leadership untainted by these failures takes over.
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