Former Shin Bet chief calls for Netanyahu’s ‘fanatical’ government to be replaced ‘tomorrow’

Former Shin Bet chief Nadav Argaman expresses concern that Israel is “on the way to a dictatorship,” while calling for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to be replaced immediately, in an in-depth television news interview.

“The only thing driving Netanyahu right now is the desire to continue being the prime minister of Israel no matter what,” Argaman claims in the interview.

“Hamas kidnapped over 250 civilians and soldiers from the State of Israel. It is our duty to return them home, yesterday. We have been taken hostage by a fanatical government that needs to be replaced tomorrow,” he says.

Argaman, who led the Shin Bet between 2016 and 2021, mostly under Netanyahu, charges that the prime minister’s insistence in recent weeks that Israel must retain control of the Philadelphi Corridor for the foreseeable future serves the goal of keeping the coalition together rather than security concerns.

“The prime minister said that the Philadelphia axis is crucial for [Iran’s] “Axis of Evil,” and I say that the Philadelphia axis is needed for the axis between Bibi, [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben Gvir and [Finance Minister Bezalal [Smotrich]. This whole thing is only meant to preserve this government.”

He charges that Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners are “fed by a messianic worldview that, unfortunately, has taken over the State of Israel.”

Netanyahu has said that control of the route, along the Gaza-Egypt border, is crucial to Israel’s future, because of the danger that otherwise Hamas would resume weapons smuggling across the border, and build up forces for more massacres like the terror group’s October 7 onslaught.

“An event of this magnitude requires fresh elections. Anyone who failed as he failed on October 7 can no longer be prime minister in the State of Israel, or anywhere. Therefore, I would expect him ethically not to run, to admit failure, to take responsibility, and to say goodbye to the leadership of the State of Israel.”

Netanyahu’s office dismisses Argaman’s comments off-hand, according to the network, charging that the former Shin Bet chief has” lost all touch with reality, as was reflected in this delusional interview.”