Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid warned Sunday of potential “political murder” within the country, holding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responsible for inciting violence, according to Israeli media.
“We are exposed to political murder from within, and Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar is at the top of the list of those getting (assassination) threats,” he said, Israel Hayom newspaper reported.
Bar has been at the center of a political firestorm since the Israeli government decided to dismiss him on March 20. The Supreme Court later suspended the decision pending a review of legal petitions filed by the opposition.
Lapid criticized Bar’s leadership, saying the Shin Bet chief should have resigned following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack, which took Israeli forces by surprise. “He should have stepped down after Oct. 7 due to his failure,” Lapid said.
Lapid warned that “Israel is in the way to another disaster”-one driven by incitement from within. “The next disaster (following Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack) will be brought about by this crazy incitement. We must confront these calls for violence and silence those promoting it. We are in a dark and dangerous place,” he said.
Lapid accused Netanyahu, who has led the government since before the October 2023 attack, of driving the incitement. He urged the prime minister to silence his Cabinet ministers and media allies: “Silence your ministers and the mouthpieces you employ in the media.”
He also called on Netanyahu to empower the Shin Bet and support it rather than fueling internal division, saying: “Instead of backing incitement, back the Shin Bet.”
These tensions come as more than 51,200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.
In recent weeks, nearly 150,000 Israelis have signed petitions demanding the return of hostages from Gaza even at the cost of ending the war on the enclave.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.