He said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will go down in history as the worst leader in Jewish history.

He said in an interview with the Israeli newspaper "Haaretz": "I will be honest, I think this is the worst government that Israel has ever seen. I believe that Netanyahu will go down in history as the worst leader in Jewish history, and not just in Israeli history."

He added, "I will not allow this Israeli government to be waiters at my grandson's coming-of-age party. They are truly incompetent," referring to the failure of the Netanyahu government to manage the war on Gaza.

Friedman criticized the government's refusal to make any kind of plan for the morning after the war.

He considered that if Israel entered into a partnership with the Palestinian Authority “to form two states for two peoples, it could solve three of its current problems: changing the narrative, changing Gaza’s options, and strengthening the regional alliance with its Arab allies.”

Friedman, a writer for the American New York Times, described the Israeli war on Gaza as “the real World War II.”

He said: “When the Ukraine war broke out, I said: This is actually World War I. The war that we call “World War I” was not a world war.”

“The Ukraine war was World War I because people could follow it on their smartphones, they could give their opinions about it, the agricultural impact was immediate, there was an impact on food prices — it was a real world war,” Friedman added.

He continued: "I claim that Israel's war on Gaza is in fact World War II. Everyone in the world has an opinion about it, follows it, and is affected by it. It affects classrooms everywhere."

Friedman rejected the idea that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.

In response to Israel's accusation of genocide in Gaza, he said: "I find it horrific. I think this is wrong. I do not think this is genocide. But I think it is a terrible war in which a very large number of civilians were killed, but I do not think it was intentional."

He believed that the case of South Africa against Israel in the International Court of Justice is a clear indication that Israel launched a war without any kind of political vision or strategic plans for the future, thus exposing itself to accusations that it is committing genocide.

Friedman concluded the interview with two stark warnings - to the Americans: Do not re-elect (former US President Donald) Trump, and to the Israelis: Vote to oust Netanyahu and his coalition government.

“I believe that if Netanyahu survives this war and Trump is re-elected, the world that I want to leave to my new grandchildren will no longer exist,” Friedman said.