[1/2]Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a press conference with Defense Minister Yoav Galan and Cabinet Secretary Benny Gantz (not pictured) at Kirya Military Base in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 28, 2023. ABIR SULTAN POOL/Pool via REUTERS Obtaining license rights
JERUSALEM, Oct 29 (Reuters) – Amnon Shashua, the head of self-driving car technology company Mobileye (MBLY.O) and a powerful Israeli businessman, on Sunday called for the immediate ouster of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government. .
Mr. Shashua, in a high-profile public rebuke from the Israeli private sector, announced that Netanyahu’s government has been in charge since Hamas militants crossed from Gaza on October 7 and carried out a deadly assault on a town in southern Israel. said it was guilty of “failure, dissonance and incompetence”.
“We must cut our losses and do it quickly. The only solution to the current situation in Israel is to change the government, and that must be done immediately,” Shashua wrote in an op-ed for the business daily Calcalist. We need to do that,” he said.
Prime Minister Netanyahu sparked an uproar of his own on Sunday when he said he had not warned his intelligence chiefs that Hamas was planning an attack, but later retracted his remarks and apologized.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office declined to comment on Shashua’s editorial when contacted by Reuters.
Shashua said the government, which appears to be more concerned with political survival than the “national interest,” will replace the government without holding new elections by forming a new coalition within the current parliament. He said it would be possible to minimize political turmoil.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has not taken responsibility for the intelligence or operational failures, saying only that after the war he will have time to ask tough questions, including of himself.
Israeli officials said the investigation would include the circumstances leading up to the Hamas attack and its response, but the current focus was on the conflict.
Mr. Shashua co-founded Mobileye in 1999. The company was acquired by Intel (INTC.O) for $15.3 billion in 2017 and went public again last year. He also founded the One Zero digital bank and his AI company AI21 Labs.
Reporting by Steven Scheer and Ari Rabinovitch.Editing: Bernadette Baum
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