National Defense

Netanyahu Opposition Pushes For Treason Investigation

Netanyahu Mourns Charlie Kirk (Screenshot/Newsmax)

A political opponent has filed for a treason investigation into Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Avigdor Lieberman, chairman of the Yisrael Betenyu party, has appealed to Attorney-General Gali Baharv-Miara to begin a criminal probe into the Prime Minister. This probe would examine whether Netanyahu is intentionally trying to draw Israel into a confrontation with Iran just before the Oct. 27 elections, according to an announcement Lieberman posted to X on Monday.

“In the past month, Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been pressuring the heads of the security establishment to take steps that could create a miscalculation vis-à-vis Iran,” stated Lieberman’s post, originally in Hebrew.

“The attempt to drag the State of Israel into war on the eve of elections, together with the willingness to sacrifice IDF [Israel Defense Forces] soldiers solely due to fear of losing the elections, constitutes treason against the state, its security, and the IDF soldiers,” the post continued.

The Ministry of Justice Spokesperson Division did not respond for immediate comment.

“The man has gone off the rails. One day he’s preparing a crypto bomb for us, and the next day an atomic bomb. He just said he had destroyed all of Iran’s bombs, and now he’s dropping bombs on Tel Aviv?” Lieberman told Israeli radio show 103FM on Monday, adding that the relationship between the military and political leadership has “never been as strained” as it is now.

“This is the result of Netanyahu’s efforts to provoke a miscalculation with Iran. The chief of staff is strong enough to insist on upholding the law, and under the law, any action whose consequences could lead the State of Israel into war or a large-scale confrontation must be subject to a government discussion and decision,” he continued on 103FM.

Following these accusations, Defense Minister Israel Katz denied the strain between military and political leadership.

“The reports about gaps between the political echelon and the IDF on the Iran issue are entirely baseless and false…The attempt by opposition figures to exploit these reports to attack the Prime Minister and me and to cast doubt on our judgment —at a time when we are prevented for understandable reasons from addressing the details of the Iranian issue — is shameful and irresponsible,” he posted on X Monday, writing in Hebrew.

Lieberman’s Israel Betenyu is a right-wing party that was founded in the 1990s splitting from Netanyahu’s Likud. Upon its founding, its primary electorate was Russian-speaking secular Jewish immigrants to Israel.