Yair Golan calls the killing of Iran's Khamenei a mistake for Israel

Yair Golan, chairman of Israel's Democrats party, said on Friday that the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei was a mistake that did not serve Israel's interests. Ynet reported that Golan described the killing of the elder Khamenei as "unequivocally" a mistake and said the campaign, which he referred to by its Hebrew name Sha'agat Ha'ari (Roaring Lion), had made Israel's situation worse.

According to Haaretz, Golan argued that Israel's strategic position had been weakened and that the war had given more extreme figures inside Iran's leadership a stronger hand. The comments were also carried by The Jerusalem Post, by the Hebrew news channel News.co.il and by commentator Amit Segal on his Telegram channel.

What Golan said

The core of the remarks is consistent across the reports. In the version posted by Amit Segal, Golan said he believed without any doubt that eliminating Khamenei was an error, and that it does not serve the interests of the State of Israel.

Ynet's account adds a second part of the argument. Golan said the killing could have marked a turning point, but that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sold the Americans illusions about bringing down the Iranian regime, and in doing so threw away a strategic opportunity. In this telling, Golan's objection is framed less around the act itself than around what he presents as a failure to turn it into a lasting gain, and around the expectations he says were raised in Washington.

Haaretz summarised the point in terms of outcome: in its report, Golan's case was that the war ended up strengthening harder-line elements in Tehran rather than weakening the regime. The reports do not identify which figures or factions Golan had in mind.

Where the remarks were made

News.co.il reported that Golan spoke at a "Shabbat Tarbut" event. The Hebrew name joins the words for Sabbath and culture, and is used for public discussion forums at which politicians and other public figures are interviewed in front of an audience. Haaretz dated the remarks to Friday. Both Ynet and Haaretz filed the story under their coverage of Israel's 2026 elections, placing the comments in the context of the campaign.

Who Yair Golan is

Golan leads the Democrats, a party on the Israeli centre-left that sits in opposition to Netanyahu's government. His remarks put him at odds with the government's handling of the war with Iran and with the claim that the killing of Iran's supreme leader advanced Israel's security. As an opposition leader during an election season, his criticism of the prime minister's conduct toward the United States forms part of a wider political argument over the direction of the war.

The two wars with Iran

Golan's comments also touched on the difference between earlier fighting with Iran and the present conflict. Barak Ravid of Axios, writing in Hebrew on X, described Golan's analysis of the difference between the 12-day war and the current war against Iran as accurate. Ravid's post did not set out the substance of that analysis, and the other reports do not spell out how Golan distinguished the two.

The phrase "12-day war" is used in Israel for an earlier round of direct fighting between Israel and Iran. The reports refer to a separate, current war against Iran, during which Khamenei was killed. Ynet's description of him as the elder Khamenei indicates a distinction from another member of the family, but the reports do not explain that distinction further.

Different emphases across the reports

The sources do not contradict each other on what Golan said, but they stress different things. The Telegram posts by Amit Segal and News.co.il carry only the headline claim that the killing was a mistake. Ynet includes the broader argument about Netanyahu and the Americans. Haaretz focuses on the strategic consequences and the strengthening of extreme elements in Iran. The Jerusalem Post report available to us consists of a headline describing the assassination as a "mistake" in Golan's words, with no further detail. Ravid's post addresses a different aspect of the same remarks and offers an assessment rather than a summary.

What the reports do not say

The reports do not provide a full transcript of Golan's remarks or say how long he spoke. They do not describe when or how Khamenei was killed, or what the operation involved. They do not say what Golan believes Israel should have done instead, or what he thinks the strategic opportunity he says was lost would have looked like in practice.

None of the reports includes a response from Netanyahu, his office, the government or the United States to Golan's claim that Washington was misled about the prospect of regime collapse. They also do not say how other opposition parties reacted, and they do not detail the comparison between the two wars that Ravid praised.