Karhi: "Did you see a video of Yair Golan firing a single bullet on October 7? I don't think he saved anyone"

Already in the days following the events of October 7, conspiracy theories were spread on social media against the chairman of The Democrats, Yair Golan, who fought heroically on the morning of the massacre, went down to the field, and saved people in the Gaza envelope during the murderous surprise attack by Hamas.

Today, Sunday, a senior Likud member, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, joined these conspiracy theories. In an interview with ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth journalist Yuval Karni on the Knesset Channel, Karhi questioned Golan's heroic deeds:

"What, what did he do on October 7? Did you see a video of him firing a single bullet from his rifle? He bothered to take a picture with ironed uniforms in the morning, smiling. I haven't seen one video of something he actually did."

He did not hesitate to call the chairman of The Democrats, a former Deputy Chief of Staff, a "terrorist lover," alongside other senior members of his party who were elected in the primaries last month, such as Knesset member Naama Lazimi and attorney Gaby Lasky. He said these things in response to the question "What is so dangerous about Gadi Eisenkot," when he tried to explain that the chairman of the Yashar! party is not the problem, but the camp he is with, and attacked:

"He stands at the head of the camp of those who want to fight everything that is holy and dear to us."

When asked about the difference between ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir and Eisenkot's potential partners, he replied: "There is a big difference, they are Zionists, lovers of the land. These are terrorist lovers." He was asked again if he really thinks Yair Golan did not save anyone on October 7 and insisted: "I don't think he saved anyone, unless there was someone who was close to him and he bothered to run for them."

Karhi is not the first among Likud members to question the actions of Major General (res.) Golan. A little over a year after the massacre, Deputy Knesset Speaker MK Nissim Vaturi said:

"On October 7, thousands of citizens were murdered and massacred, and it is our duty to present the facts to the public. With Yair Golan's statements, I wouldn't be surprised by anything, including treason. There are people in the country who care more about toppling Netanyahu. Golan? I don't know if he saved anyone. Okay, there are testimonies, I don't believe anything anymore about what happened on October 7."

At the end of 2024, The Democrats party, headed by Golan, began filing libel lawsuits in his name, following the spread of those same conspiracy theories according to which he was "involved in espionage against the State of Israel" and in "planning the Hamas attack" on October 7. The theories were previously spread by figures identified with the right and with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and among others, as mentioned, also by elected officials. Besides Karhi and Vaturi, Tally Gotliv and Almog Cohen have also hinted at this in the past. These are, as mentioned, conspiracy theories without any basis or proof. Golan's party has collected hundreds of false publications against the former Deputy Chief of Staff since the beginning of the war.