Likud MK Vaturi suggests Democrats leader Golan betrayed country on Oct. 7
Right-wing lawmaker amplifies conspiracy theory, says opposition party chief would do anything to bring down Netanyahu; Golan demands apology, threatens to sue
Deputy Knesset Speaker MK Nissim Vaturi insinuated that the leader of the opposition Democrats party Yair Golan may have betrayed Israel by allegedly cooperating with the Hamas terror group in the Oct. 7, 2023, assault and dismissed multiple eyewitness testimonies that Golan rushed to the scene of the attack where he saved several people by evacuating them from the danger zone.
Golan, a former IDF deputy chief of staff, in response demanded that Likud lawmaker Vaturi issue a public apology and pay him compensation for slandering him or he would take the matter to court.
While coalition lawmakers remained silent about Vaturi’s baseless accusations, opposition MKs rallied to Golan’s side.
During an interview on the Knesset channel on Tuesday, Vaturi spoke of the October 7 assault, when Palestinian terror group Hamas led thousands of terrorists who killed 1,200 people and abducted 251 hostages to the Gaza Strip.
Vaturi suggested that Golan had “betrayed” the country, apparently referring to recent far-right conspiracy theories that left-leaning Golan cooperated with Hamas in arranging the assault.
“Do you really believe that Yair Golan committed treason?” interrupted host Yuval Karni.
“Yair Golan — with the things he says, I would not be surprised about anything,” Vaturi said.
ח"כ ניסים ואטורי: לא אתפלא אם יאיר גולן בגד ב-7.10
יובל קרני: "אתה באמת מאמין שיאיר גולן בגד?"
ח"כ ואטורי: "עם האימרות שלו אני לא אתפלא על שום דבר"
יובל קרני: "כולל בגידה?"
ח"כ ואטורי: "כן"
יובל קרני: "יאיר גולן, להזכירך, הלך להציל אנשים בשבעה באוקטובר"
חבר הכנסת מהליכוד: "לא… pic.twitter.com/vGE2tU2jOS— ערוץ כנסת (@KnessetT) January 7, 2025
When pressed on whether that included treasony, Vaturi affirmed that it did.
“There are people in this country for whom bringing down [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is more important,” Vaturi said.
Karni then noted that Golan had saved people during the attack.
“I don’t know if he saved [anyone],” Vaturi responded.
Karni insisted that there are witness accounts from those who were saved by Golan.
“I don’t believe anything about what happened on October 7” until the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, on which he sits, is provided with details about the events, Vaturi said.
Later Tuesday, Golan sent a letter via his legal representative to Vaturi demanding financial compensation of NIS 100,000 and a public apology.
Golan said that if his demands aren’t met within two weeks, he will file a defamation lawsuit against Vaturi.
On the morning of October 7 as the news spread, Golan drove to the area of the attack. Using his knowledge of the region, he was able to pick up some of those fleeing the terrorists and transport them to safety.
Images shared on social media from the day show Golan, wearing his army reservist uniform and holding a gun, during his private rescue mission.
One of the images shows him being interviewed by Channel 12 at the time.
ב7 לאוקטובר יאיר גולן יצא מהבית מבלי שנדרש והציל אזרחים במו ידיו מהמסיבה בנובה, היום הוא מוכפש על ידי ח״כ ואטורי שנעלם לגמרי ב7 לאוקטובר. ישב בבית ואפילו לא הגיב בתקשורת מההלם. והוא טוען שיאיר גולן ״בגד״?! בגד בממשלה אולי, שהחליטה להפקיר את האזרחים באותו יום. pic.twitter.com/cOpndSXAoI
— daniel amram – דניאל עמרם (@danielamram3) January 7, 2025
The Democrats Party said in response to Vaturi’s comments that “anyone who lies and poisons will pay the price. Anyone who spreads conspiracy [theories] will be sued and we will bring him to justice.”
The party said it was on a campaign to “clean the poison” and that no one who is party to the “poison machine” would be spared.
“We are done with being silent, we are launching a war,” it said.
Opposition Leader MK Yair Lapid said Vaturi’s remarks were “a disgrace and insane.”
Golan, he said, “is an Israeli hero who bravely fought and endangered his life to save October 7 victims.”
“Vaturi’s government brought this disaster upon us, and now they are accusing those who came to save Israel of betrayal.”
Democrat party MK Na’ama Lizimi said she filed a complaint with the Knesset Ethics Committee.
Vaturi, she said in a statement, “is polluting the Knesset and corrupting the country.”
Leader of the opposition National Unity party MK Benny Gantz said that since the Hamas attack, Vaturi “has done nothing except to add hatred and division to Israeli society.”
The Ynet outlet reported that in recent weeks a right-wing conspiracy theory has been spread on social media that Golan spied against Israel and was involved in planning the Hamas attack.
The Democrats party has already filed slander lawsuits against others who have shared the theory, the outlet said.
Vaturi, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, has a history of provocative remarks.
In June, he called anti-government protesters a “branch of Hamas,” while in September 2023 he insinuated that activists at mass demonstrations against the government’s plans for a judicial overhaul effort were aligned with Iran.
He was also temporarily banned from Facebook in mid-November 2023 after he wrote “burn Gaza now” in a social media post, and was sanctioned by the Knesset’s Ethics Committee the following week for falsely accusing two Arab Israeli MKs of supporting Hamas.
