Ayelet Shaked: Netanyahu must go due to Oct. 7, Bennett, Liberman should unite

Former cabinet minister Ayelet Shaked, who was once a leading figure on the political right, says that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be replaced as Israel’s leader in the wake of the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, invasion and atrocities.

The former politician — who is weighing a return to political life with elections taking place this year — was a longtime close ally of former prime minister Naftali Bennett. Bennett is considered Netanyahu’s most credible challenger.

“After October 7, Netanyahu needs to go. An alternative needs to rise,” she says on Channel 12’s “Meet the Press” program. “There is a big right-wing, liberal public who thinks this government has not functioned in all areas.”

In the interview, Shaked insists there has been no “total victory” in Gaza as Netanyahu sought, since Hamas still runs nearly half the territory and is not laying down its arms, while Fatah and Palestinian Authority officials play prominent roles on the technocratic committee set up to run the postwar Strip, a scenario Netanyahu vowed to prevent.

“There is no total victory at the moment because Hamas is controlling the territory with all the citizens, and they are not putting down their arms,” says Shaked.

Shaked opines that Bennett’s nascent party should unite with Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu, which she says would be “a real alternative for right-wing voters, and increase the size of that bloc.”

The former justice and interior minister is also strongly critical of current Justice Minister Yariv Levin, accusing him of missing an opportunity to enact lasting reform to the judiciary with his highly confrontational approach.

She notes that there is a strong conservative camp of justices on the court today, which is in part due to six Supreme Court appointments she made during her tenure as justice minister.

“Levin could have appointed four [Supreme Court] justices,” she notes in reference to the four vacancies on the top court at the moment. When pointed out to her that he had not been able to muster the votes for one of the key jurists he sought to elect, Shaked responds, “So there’s only one suitable person in the entire State of Israel? No.”

She also criticizes Levin for boycotting current Supreme Court President Isaac Amit, saying, “This doesn’t serve the State of Israel, it doesn’t serve Israel’s citizens and it doesn’t serve the right wing in the State of Israel.”