Netanyahu ‘enemy’ of Israel, ‘should be imprisoned’: Ex-army chief

JERUSALEM / ISTANBUL

Former Israeli army chief Dan Halutz on Monday called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “an enemy that poses a direct threat” to Israel’s security.

“An enemy that poses a direct threat to Israel’s security, and his name is Benjamin Netanyahu,” Halutz told the Israeli Channel 12.

“The enemy should be subdued or imprisoned, not killed,” he added.

Netanyahu's Likud Party denounced Halutz’s comments, calling them “serious incitement against democracy that encourages the calls from the extreme left over the assassination of the Prime Minister.”

“Halutz, the most failed chief of staff in the history of the IDF (army), calls the prime minister an enemy who should be taken prisoner,” it said. “This is not freedom of expression.”

Halutz’s remarks came amid a wave of petitions by army soldiers and veterans demanding the return of Israeli captives from Gaza and halting the war on the Palestinian enclave.

The Israeli army renewed its assault on Gaza on March 18, shattering a Jan. 19 ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement.

Nearly 51,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for 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.