Naama Lazimi says Netanyahu could trigger war to delay elections
MK Naama Lazimi of The Democrats says Benjamin Netanyahu is so politically driven that he might even launch a war to postpone elections, which are still not set and are expected around mid-October. She said the week’s 17-hour clash with Iran may not be the last military confrontation before Israelis vote, and argued that Netanyahu’s conduct shows he is no longer fit to lead.
In an interview with Saturday supplement, Lazimi said Netanyahu acts out of “political motives” and “personal interests,” even at Israel’s expense. She accused his bureau of having staff who worked for Qatar and still work for him, and said coalition lawmakers back measures they do not believe in, including the subsidy bill for yeshiva students who evade military service. She named Moshe Solomon and Yitzhak Kreuzer as examples of politicians voting under coalition discipline against their convictions.
Looking back at the aftermath of October 7, she said the centrist-left camp’s biggest mistake was failing to reorganize immediately and stop Netanyahu from returning to the prime minister’s office. She also said the opposition should have coordinated much more tightly, while acknowledging her own ideological gaps with partners in the “change bloc.” Still, she said there is broad agreement on a state commission of inquiry and on equal military burden.
Lazimi, who leads a broad activist effort and was elected first in Labor’s last primary, said she is willing to work with Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Liberman on practical steps such as core studies, democratic education, a Basic Law on legislation, and stronger watchdog institutions. She rejected excluding Arab parties in advance, said Joint List parties could in principle be part of a government’s basic guidelines, and praised Arab public mobilization during the war. She also argued that any future coalition should exclude the October 7 governing bloc, including the ultra-Orthodox parties, and said her first legislative priorities would be a state commission of inquiry, a Basic Law on legislation, ending funding for non-core education, and strengthening democratic safeguards. She added that Labor and The Democrats should aim for 65 seats, not just 61, so Netanyahu cannot challenge the election results, likening that risk to a “Capitol Hill” scenario.
