Shlomi Amsalem · CC BY-SA 4.0

A retired IDF major general who rose to Deputy Chief of Staff before entering politics, Golan now leads the Democrats, formed in 2024 from a merger of Labor and Meretz. He has repeatedly broken with Israel's political mainstream in blunt terms: as a serving general in 2016 he warned publicly of parallels to 1930s Germany, and in May 2025 he said "a sane country does not wage war against civilians, does not kill babies as a pastime" about the conduct of the Gaza war, drawing sharp condemnation from Netanyahu and praise from other quarters.