From the Liveblog of
Monday, May 18, 2026
Bennett accuses Netanyahu government of stabbing troops in the back
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
In a video message filmed on the northern border, former prime minister Naftali Bennett accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of failing to deal with the drone threat and stabbing IDF troops in the back by supporting draft exemptions for Haredim.
“We are nearly 1,000 days into the war, and only now does the government remember there is a threat of explosive drones? It is simply unbelievable. Citizens, we are distributing nets to soldiers here because the government didn’t deal with it,” Bennett says.
“While IDF soldiers are facing north toward Hezbollah, the government is stabbing them in the back by passing the despicable draft-dodging law, which deprives the IDF of the soldiers needed to accomplish the mission. Soon, we will replace them and fix this.”
Hezbollah has been launching near-daily explosive drone attacks on IDF troops in southern Lebanon.
Speaking at his weekly cabinet meeting yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he had warned of the drone threat six years prior, but did not address why, during his years in office since then, Israel has not come up with a solution to counter it.
The Times of Israel Community.