Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman and acting chief of staff Ziv Agmon made extreme racist statements against Likud lawmakers and others, and called his boss “finished” after Hamas’s onslaught of October 7, 2023.

Following the report, multiple Hebrew media outlets reported that Netanyahu was expected to fire Agmon, who in a response issued hours later stated that “a real injustice” was done to him.

“I do not intend to respond to all the slanderous remarks attributed to me this evening,” said Agmon in a statement, “but there is one thing I could not let pass in silence. Anyone who knows me and my work with the prime minister knows very well that the words allegedly attributed to me regarding Mizrahi communities are completely foreign to me—not least because a large part of my own family comes from Mizrahi and Moroccan backgrounds.”

According to Channel 12, Agmon criticized Netanyahu as “old” and declared him “finished” after October 7.

“The question is whether we’ll still have a state. He must go home. I wonder who will be responsible for negotiating for the hostages, [Likud ministers Shlomo] Karhi or [David] Amsalem? The country is finished,” the network quoted him as saying.

“It’s over for the Likud,” he also reportedly said, adding that “the Egyptians need to release the recording of the conversation with Bibi” — a reference to claims that Egypt warned Netanyahu ahead of October 7. “And then he’s finished.”

Recalling that Netanyahu “fainted in the synagogue on Yom Kippur [in 2022], Agmon reportedly mused, “Why isn’t [opposition leader Yair] Lapid playing on the fact that he’s old and we need a leader for the long-term?”

All of the quotes broadcast by the network were said to have come from private conversations. No recordings were shared.

Agmon also allegedly used extreme rhetoric when referring to Likud lawmakers of Middle Eastern, or Sephardic, descent, calling MK Nissim Vaturi a “baboon” and MK Eli Revivo a “retarded Moroccan,” and saying that “it’s unclear how these people get elected to the Knesset.”

Agmon was also said to have called MK Eli Dallal a “nobody,” adding: “What baboons. It’s a shame we can’t just appoint the entire list and do away with the primaries.”

In a further attack on the ruling party, Agmon said: “We should publish a wanted ad for rapists and murderers for the Likud list for the Knesset, because there is already a thief, a burglar and a kidnapper.”

Turning to the Sephardic ultra-Orthodox Shas party, Agmon was quoted as saying that it “only knows how to take money,” while describing members of Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party as “monkeys.”

In addition, Agmon was reported to have criticized Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, for owning “a Dior bag that is worth as much as a Rolex,” as well as their son Yair for having “forced” former foreign minister Eli Cohen “to issue him a diplomatic passport, even though there is no justification for it.”

Both Likud lawmakers and opposition politicians condemned Agmon’s remarks, with many calling for his dismissal.

“Someone who speaks this way about Mizrahi Jews, about Moroccans, didn’t just ‘have a slip of the tongue’ — he simply said out loud what he truly thinks in his heart,” tweeted Likud MK Revivo, adding: “Such a person is not fit to serve the public in any capacity for even one more minute. Anyone who chooses to keep him in their circle or as their representative thinks exactly like him.”

“The frustrated Ziv Agmon, who failed to get elected to the Knesset after several attempts — if these reports are true, he needs to be sent home right now,” posted Likud MK Vaturi.

Firebrand Likud MK Tally Gotliv said Netanyahu “must fire Ziv Agmon” because “the people of Israel have no patience for racists, fools, gossips and traitors.”

Freshman Likud lawmaker Dan Illouz declared that such rhetoric from inside the Prime Minister’s Office was a “flashing red warning sign” and that “anyone who has forgotten what Likud is supposed to stand for cannot remain in their position for a single minute longer.”

Senior members of Netanyahu’s cabinet likewise slammed Agmon.

“In the State of Israel, and in the Likud movement in particular, there is no place for racism,” declared Justice Minister Yariv Levin in a statement. “Just as we expect and work to erase unacceptable racism from the legal system, we must also eradicate it from within ourselves.”

Agmon’s statements “do not represent” Netanyahu’s positions and “anyone who dares to speak in this way has no place in the Likud,” said coalition whip Ofir Katz.

Opposition Leader Lapid noted that Netanyahu’s inner circle includes “a suspect who admitted to taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from a state that supports terrorism, a rape suspect, a racist of the lowest kind, and someone who secretly records everyone and gives it to the media.”

Blue and White chairman Gantz called on Netanyahu to fire Agmon “tonight,” a sentiment echoed by Yisrael Beytenu party chief Avigdor Liberman and The Democrats head Yair Golan.

The latter asserted that “Netanyahu surrounds himself with racists, criminals and vile people.”

This is not the first time that Agmon has come under fire for his behavior.

Last year, the Israel Bar Association’s disciplinary court decided to suspend him for violating the duty of loyalty to a client and for behavior that is unbecoming of a lawyer.

Agmon’s suspension was supposed to have taken effect on July 1, 2025, but he has appealed the ruling to the Jerusalem District Court, which has frozen the suspension until it issues a final ruling on the matter.

According to the Ynet news site, the Bar Association’s court last April ruled that within the framework of a property purchase, he had transferred NIS 1.7 million from a trust fund of a client to a seller before receiving the necessary permits.

Lazar Berman contributed to this report.

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