Benjamin Netanyahu can’t safeguard Israel from Iran if he can’t even manage his own government, opposition leader Yair Lapid charged after he was briefed by the prime minister on Sunday.
“The Iranian threat cannot be dealt with this way,” said Lapid after speaking with Netanyahu in Tel Aviv about the security dangers facing Israel, including rocket attacks in the last four days across Israel’s borders with Syria, Lebanon and Gaza.
This has been coupled with unrest on the Temple Mount and two terror attacks that claimed the lives of three civilians.
“I arrived worried and I left even more worried,” Lapid stated, comparing the current security situation with the 18 months the previous government was in power. That government was led first by former prime minister Naftali Bennett and then by Lapid.
“What our enemies see in front of them, in all arenas, is an incompetent government,” he said, adding that Israel is losing US support and its deterrence capabilities as it becomes an unmanaged country.
Likud vs. Lapid
The Likud immediately blamed Lapid and Bennett for the crisis and said this was not the time to play politics.
“It is unfortunate that at a time when Israel is fighting on three fronts and after… Netanyahu invited him for a comprehensive security update, Yair Lapid chooses to engage in petty politics instead of broadcasting a message of unreserved unity against our enemies,” the Likud Party stated.
It took particular issue with the gas deal the previous government signed with Lebanon, which the Likud has viewed as an arrangement that would benefit Hezbollah.
“Lapid, who dealt a fatal blow to [Israel’s] deterrence in his surrender agreement to Hezbollah regarding the gas matter, who repeats the Hamas narrative regarding the Temple Mount and who is widely quoted in Iran as predicting the destruction of Israel, left us a difficult legacy that we are forced to deal with these days,” the Likud stated.
“At a time when [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah and [Hamas leader Ismail] Haniyeh sit together under the portrait of their Iranian patron calling for our destruction, the leader of the opposition was expected to show national responsibility.”
Lapid in turn, took issue with Netanyahu’s actions, particularly his decision late last month to fire Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for warning that the domestic turmoil over the government’s judicial reform plan was creating a security risk. Netanyahu has since delayed that firing due to the security situation.
“I told Netanyahu that the State of Israel needs a full-time security minister. He should announce that he is taking Gallant’s dismissal off the table for good, admit that his cabinet cannot be trusted, and establish a small and effective security forum to handle the situation,” Lapid said.
What there is now is “a cabinet that no one trusts, a security minister on probation who was fired for telling the truth” and a “finance minister who announces that he wants to wipe out villages,” he said.
“One hundred days ago we handed over a safe and prosperous country to them,” Lapid said, as he minimized the West Bank unrest, violence and attacks that had marked the last government’s time in office.
Still, despite his harsh words, Lapid assured Netanyahu during that the opposition would back security measures needed to halt terrorism and prevent further rocket attacks.