April 12—The editor and founder of the Times of Israel David Horovitz has written an editorial with the above headline, insisting on the removal of Benjamin "Bibi" Netaynahu as Prime Minister. The daily can be considered "center-right,'' and has never been this direct in opposition to Bibi, and the signed editorial goes after him from that perspective. 

First, Horovitz reiterates Netanyahu’s responsibility for the failure of the Oct. 7 attacks, including his support for Hamas against the Palestinian Authority, his failure in the current conflict by alienating the U.S. and Israel’s allies, etc. He then writes that it "falls to a potential few good men and women within his own coalition base to tell him that his presence is harming Israel, that his policies empowered and emboldened Hamas, and that far from being uniquely capable of ensuring Israel has the practical and diplomatic room to destroy Hamas, he is almost uniquely incapable of doing so….

“But not only must they tell him this. In contrast to the cynical, sheep-like self-preservation they demonstrated during the judicial overhaul crisis, they must protect and serve the electorate they represent by organizing an orderly transition of power. In a 64-56 coalition, it does not take many people of integrity to put the interests of the country above self-interest and fear of the pro-Netanyahu machine.

“Israel is in the midst of multiple crises—with a stalled war in the south; a potentially far worse conflict in the north, acute tensions in the West Bank, Iran’s multiple machinations, international hostility, no remotely competent public diplomacy, dysfunctional governance that continues to fail the citizenry at the most basic level, and an electorate riven over the Haredi [right-wing orthodox Jews—ed]​ community’s exclusion from national service and much more besides. Directly responsible for some, Netanyahu undermines Israel’s capacity to tackle all these crises….

“But if not by his own belated will, then, via due political process, his necessary departure needs to be achieved in a manner that helps Israel address what has been since Oct. 7 a genuine existential crisis—a manner, in other words, that gives Hamas and Israel’s other circling enemies cause for concern and fear.”

Sources in Israel report that the timing of the editorial, coming in the middle of critical ceasefire talks, steered by the United States, and prior to the execution of Netanyahu's announced order to the Israel Defense Forces to assault the last standing Gazan city, Rafah, is extremely significant. "Bibi's time is number days and weeks, no loner months," a source said this morning. "Will it be soon enough? I don't know> No one does."