Amid growing incitement against lawmakers in the would-be new coalition, Likud MK May Golan calls the right-wing leaders of the so-called change bloc “suicide bombers.”
Golan used the phrase repeatedly during an interview with the Knesset Channel, doubling down on her assertion as the two anchors urged her to retract it, while qualifying the statement by saying there was still a “world of difference” between the two politicians and jihadist terrorists.
“The most dangerous thing in public leaders is people who have no place to go back to, and Naftali Bennett and Gideon Sa’ar have no place to go back to,” Golan says, in reference to the perception that the heads of Yamina and New Hope have plummeted in popularity since allying with the center-left to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from power.
Likud MK May Golan on the Knesset Channel, June 6, 2021. (video screenshot)
She says that “while there is a world of difference (in Hebrew, literally, “while differentiating a thousand thousand differences”), I would compare them to suicide bombers.”
Asked by the anchor if she were not going too far, Golan answered “No, and I’ll tell you why… They’re like terrorists who don’t believe in anything anymore, who go out on their suicide mission, and even if they know it’s their death sentence, they don’t care because they’re Shiites.”
In mentioning the death sentence, Golan was apparently referring to a political death sentence, but did not clarify the matter.
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel