From the Liveblog of
Monday, December 22, 2025
Golan: Netanyahu fumbled military successes in Iran, Gaza with lack of political followup
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"
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has failed to capitalize on Israel’s military victories in Iran and Gaza in order to implement political solutions, endangering national security, The Democrats party chairman Yair Golan charges.
“Every citizen of Israel should ask themself one simple question,” Golan tells reporters ahead of his left-wing party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset. “How is it possible that last June, at the end of the war with Iran, Benjamin Netanyahu solemnly declared that ‘Israel had eliminated Iran’s nuclear threat and severely damaged its missile array’; and that this was a ‘historic victory’ — and today, less than six months later, he is running to the president of the United States to beg for permission to attack Iran again?”
According to NBC News, Netanyahu will present plans for a possible fresh attack on Iran to Trump during his upcoming visit to Washington. According to the report, Israel is growing increasingly concerned that Iran is rebuilding and even expanding its ballistic missile production in the wake of the nations’ 12-day war in June.
“The answer is simple and serious: the IDF won the war. Netanyahu caused Israel to lose,” says Golan, arguing that there was no diplomatic follow-up to the war, such as the implementation of a new, stricter nuclear agreement and the establishment of “a regional and international coalition, which reduces the enemy’s freedom of action and maintains Israel’s security superiority in the long term.”
Similarly, Golan says, Netanyahu, both in Iran and Gaza, used military force “without a clear political goal, without binding arrangements, and without an exit strategy.”
“Netanyahu did not care about a governing alternative to Hamas, did not lead a political initiative, and thus allowed the despicable terrorist organization to recover and flourish and continue to control the population of Gaza,” he adds, calling Netanyahu “a danger to Israel’s security.”
The Times of Israel Community.