“One week after the signing, no one knows details regarding what Israel committed itself to, in the agreement — except for one person, who happens to be a criminal defendant. I am very worried — and there is real basis for my worry — that [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu may have traded Israel’s strategic advantage in the Middle East.”

This tweet was posted Sept. 21 by Meretz Knesset member Yair Golan — a former deputy chief of staff who also served as commander of the Northern Command. Golan was widely viewed as an exceptional officer who, before he retired, had been a candidate for the position of chief of staff.

Since Golan entered politics about a year ago, he has become one of the left’s most aggressive critics of the prime minister, and some of his criticism has been populist. However, it is difficult to ignore this specific tweet because Golan is very well acquainted with the State of Israel’s array of national and defense interests and was privy to defense secrets over many years. Thus it is hard to brush him off as merely one more talking expert among many.

In addition to the tweet, Golan placed a parliamentary query on the Knesset’s table; it included a demand to examine the details of the agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. In his query he also said the Sept. 15 agreements were never made fully public and their security ramifications were never discussed in the government or the Knesset. He said, “As a former deputy chief of staff, I must express deep concern over the concealment [of the details involved]. I demand that the subject be brought to the table of the Knesset and to the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, to examine the agreements and ensure that Israel retains its security advantage and qualitative military edge.”