Netanyahu’s Wife Accuses Army of Planning a Coup

(RepublicanJournal.org) – Could Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be at risk of being overthrown by his own military? His wife has recently claimed senior officers are planning a coup against her husband. Her controversial statements are raising political tensions and alarming Israelis whose relatives are being held hostage by Hamas.

PM’s Wife Angers Hostage Families

In late June, Sara Netanyahu, the Israeli leader’s third wife, met the families of some of the Israelis still held by Hamas after being taken hostage during the October 7 atrocities last year. Days later, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that, during the meeting, Netanyahu had repeatedly told the worried relatives that she had no confidence in the leadership of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). This didn’t go down too well with her audience, who interrupted to remind her that they were relying on the military to get their missing relatives back.

Responding to this criticism, Netanyahu replied that she wasn’t talking about the IDF’s soldiers; she was criticizing senior commanders. Then she escalated, claiming several times that the military leadership wants to carry out a coup to depose her husband.

Mrs. Netanyahu’s rant sparked a rapid backlash, with many Israelis criticizing her for her attacks on the military. In response, her office said she had been working to help the hostages and their families since the war began, and slammed “false, trending, and incessant leaks” about her.

Government and Military Face Policy Rift

This isn’t the first time the Netanyahu family has lashed out at the IDF recently. On June 16, Yair Netanyahu, the son of Benjamin and Sara, posted a critical post on X (formerly Twitter) calling senior commanders “fatal failures” for not having prevented the October 7 attacks. He’s also spread conspiracy theories alleging that military leaders knew the attack was coming but deliberately let it happen.

There’s growing tension between the Netanyahu government and IDF commanders over the objectives of Israel’s war with Hamas. The prime minister has made the complete elimination of Hamas one of his main goals. Military chiefs don’t think this is possible and are pushing for more achievable goals, such as destroying Hamas’s ability to control Gaza and carry out attacks on Israel.

Before entering politics, Prime Minister Netanyahu spent five years in the IDF’s Sayeret Matkal special forces unit. His brother Yonatan was killed in 1976 during the famous IDF raid on Entebbe, Uganda, to rescue over 100 Israeli hostages kidnapped by Palestinian and communist terrorists.