‘Millstone around neck’: Knesset member demands Netanyahu sacking
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs a Cabinet meeting, Tel Aviv, Israel, Dec. 17, 2023. (AFP Photo)


An opposition member of the Israeli parliament, Knesset, has called for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's dismissal, calling him a "burden" for the state.

"It pains me to say these words in the midst of the war, but it seems there is no other option," said Meirav Cohen, a member of opposition leader Yair Lapid's "There is a Future" party.

In a video posted on X, Cohen said: "When the prime minister fails and continues to fail, proving that he is not qualified for the position, that he is the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time, he must be replaced immediately."

"The British people taught us that when they replaced their Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain on May 10, 1940, after about 9 months of the outbreak of World War II," added Cohen, a former minister of social equality.

"Netanyahu is a failure," the Knesset member said. "Netanyahu, as Prime Minister, has become a millstone around the neck of the state and Israeli society."

Netanyahu is facing growing criticisms over his failure to acknowledge responsibility for the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion.

A recent opinion poll by the Lazar Research Institute for Israeli daily Maariv found that only 27% of Israelis believe that Netanyahu is the right person to run the government.

The survey found that 49% of Israelis, or about half, believe that Benny Gantz, leader of the National Unity Party, is the best figure to lead the country’s government.

Many Israelis expect that a post-war investigation will spell the end of Netanyahu's political career.

Netanyahu was elected prime minister in late 2022. On Sunday, opposition leader Lapid called for fresh elections amid the ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, killing at least 19,667 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 52,586 others, according to health authorities in the enclave.

The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins with half of the coastal territory's housing stock damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million people displaced within the densely-populated enclave amid shortages of food and clean water.

Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack, while more than 130 hostages remain in captivity.