CNN –
More than 40 senior former Israeli national security officials, renowned academics and prominent business leaders have sent a letter to Israel's president and parliament speaker demanding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be removed from office for what they say is an “existential” The country is a threat.
The letter's signatories include four former directors of Israel's foreign and domestic intelligence services, two former heads of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and three Nobel Prize winners.
The letter criticizes the coalition Netanyahu assembled to form Israel's most right-wing government ever, as well as his highly controversial efforts to reform Israel's judiciary, which allegedly led to security breaches that led to the September 7 attacks. October, the deadliest day in Israel's history.
“We believe that Netanyahu bears primary responsibility for the circumstances that led to the brutal massacre of over 1,200 Israelis and others, the injury of over 4,500 and the kidnapping of more than 230 people, over 130 of whom are still in Hamas. “The victim's blood is on Netanyahu's hands.”
The letter was sent to Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Thursday and to Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana on Friday.
Netanyahu's popularity has fallen dramatically since his sixth term as prime minister began just over a year ago. Critics have criticized his efforts to reform the justice system, which threatened to trigger a constitutional crisis and divided the country, leading to months of massive, regular demonstrations.
“Leaders of Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas,” the letter said, “openly praised what they rightly saw as a destabilizing and eroding process of Israel's stability under Netanyahu's leadership and seized the opportunity to protect Israel's security to harm and harm.”
The 43 signatories include former IDF chiefs Moshe Ya'alon and Dan Halutz, Tamir Pardo and Danny Yatom, who headed the Mossad intelligence agency, and Nadav Argaman and Yaakov Peri, who were directors of the domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet.
Former CEOs, ambassadors, government officials and three Nobel Prize winners in chemistry – Aaron Ciechanover, Avram Hershko and Dan Shechtman – also signed the letter.
A poll released this week by Israeli broadcaster Channel 13 suggests that Netanyahu's Likud political party would now finish in a distant second place if elections were held today. The frontrunner in the poll was the National Unity Party, led by former IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz, who is currently a member of Netanyahu's war cabinet.
The next elections are not scheduled until the end of 2026, although there have been protests and calls for early elections, including from one of Israel's main opposition leaders, Yair Lapid.
“The situations that led Israel to the elections before are almost nothing compared to what Israel is going through now,” said Haim Tomer, a longtime Mossad officer who retired after heading the agency’s intelligence division and signed the letter calling for Netanyahu's removal.
“Everyone understands that Netanyahu is not fit to lead Israel,” Tomer told CNN.
The backlash is growing because Netanyahu appears to be ruling out a two-state solution in Israel.
Over the past week, Netanyahu has repeatedly expressed his opposition to Palestinian sovereignty on security grounds, while Israel's main ally, the United States, continues to call for a two-state solution.
The letter's signatories accuse Netanyahu of supporting Hamas in Gaza for years at the expense of the Palestinian Authority, which the U.S. believes should be revived to rule both the West Bank and Gaza.
CNN has reported that Qatar has been shipping cash-filled suitcases to Gaza for years with Netanyahu's blessing, despite its own government's concerns. The money was supposed to be used to pay civil servant salaries and pensions. Delivery is now made via bank transfer instead of cash, and just last month Qatar announced it was continuing to make payment.
To form his current government, Netanyahu brought together other parties far to the right of Likud and put together the most right-wing government in Israel's history. Two of its most prominent members, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, were criticized by the Biden administration for advocating that Palestinians leave Gaza.
The letter accuses Netanyahu of refusing to accept responsibility for the October 7 attacks and instead “blaming others and inciting against those who fought to save Israeli democracy from his destructive actions and plans.” and are now wholeheartedly committed to supporting Israel’s national war effort.” ”
It ends with a call for the Israeli president and Knesset speaker to replace the prime minister and a warning: “The Israeli nation and Jewish history will not forgive you if you fail to live up to your highest national responsibility.”
Neither the President nor the Speaker has the power to unilaterally remove a Prime Minister from office.
The right people need to “take the steering wheel,” said Tomer, the former Mossad official.
“I think people are starting to look at Israel from the outside and wondering what happened to this country,” Tomer said. “What happened to this country with very, very smart people now run by some idiots?”
“The word we’ve used in the circles I’ve attended is: We need a reboot, we need a reboot.”
Israel has faced intense international criticism over its war in the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 25,000 Palestinians and displaced nearly two million people since the October 7 Hamas attacks.
Israel has repeatedly insisted that its war is not against the Palestinian people but against Hamas militants who are holding more than 130 hostages in horrific conditions in the war zone.
Netanyahu said at a news conference last week that politicians calling on him to resign are essentially calling for a Palestinian state.
Israel's actions in Gaza are the subject of a genocide case brought by South Africa at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing the country's leadership of seeking to “bring about the annihilation of its Palestinian population.”
Israel denies the allegations, arguing that the war is being waged in self-defense and that its leadership has shown no genocidal intent.