Opposition party leaders accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to reach war objectives and lying to the public after the ceasefire with Iran was announced on Wednesday, though some expressed support for his later announcement on Thursday to hold direct talks with Lebanon on Hezbollah disarmament.
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who is the leading candidate against Netanyahu in the upcoming elections, said in a press conference on Wednesday evening that the war’s objectives were clearly outlined in advance and had not been achieved ahead of the ceasefire.
Instead, Bennett said that Netanyahu was lying to the public and “sold illusions” about what could be won.
“The war’s objectives were clear: The complete and permanent dismantling of the nuclear program, regional terrorism, and missiles, and the removal of 460 kilograms of enriched uranium from Iranian territory.”
“The campaign will be judged solely by meeting these goals, because failure will leave Israel facing a more vengeful and determined Iran.”
'Leadership sold us illusions'
He argued that the reason the public was disappointed by the ceasefire was that “the leadership sold us illusions. The government did not speak the truth to us.”
“Unfortunately, as every child can see, Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran are still standing. This is because a government that is tearing Israel apart from within cannot defeat the enemy from without.”
Bennett’s statements came after Netanyahu said in a press conference on Wednesday that, despite the ceasefire with Iran, Israel was still in the process of achieving all its war goals.
Former IDF chief of staff and leader of the Yashar! Party Gadi Eisenkot stated on Wednesday that Netanyahu had failed to translate military achievements into a political arrangement.
The Democrats leader, Yair Golan, added on Wednesday that Netanyahu should have “stood before the nation, admitted the failure of his strategy, and announced his immediate resignation,” after the ceasefire with Iran.
“Instead, before a grieving and bleeding Israeli public, what appeared tonight was a skilled salesman and a failed strategist, armed with a pile of spin, half-truths, and lies,” Golan added.
After Netanyahu on Thursday announced that his cabinet would begin ceasefire and Hezbollah disarmament talks with Lebanon amid the ongoing conflict with Hezbollah, Golan and Eisenkot were among the only opposition politicians to express their support for the move by press time.
Golan said he welcomed the initiative to open direct negotiations with Lebanon.
“Thanks to [US President Donald] Trump for forcing Netanyahu to take action. Reality once again proves what we have always said, political agreements are the way to bring true security to Israel,” Golan stated.
Eisenkot also welcomed the decision to open direct negotiations with the Lebanese government.
“The Israeli government has a duty to leverage the significant military achievements, achieved at a heavy price, into an agreement that will lead to the complete dismantling and disarmament of Hezbollah and return full responsibility to the Lebanese government,” Eisenkot said.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) had sharply criticized the ceasefire with Iran on Wednesday, saying, “There has never been such a political disaster in all of our history.”
He asserted that Israel was not part of the discussions when decisions were made concerning national security.
Lapid also claimed that Netanyahu “failed politically, failed strategically, and didn’t meet a single one of the goals that he himself set.”
Yisrael Beytenu Party leader Avigdor Liberman said on Thursday that Israel could not end the war without a decisive outcome.
Government ministers sharply criticized the opposition politicians’ remarks in return on Wednesday.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that the war was not yet over and its full objectives could still be achieved.
“Opposition leaders are once again proving that they have become an opposition obsessed with the state rather than the government, desperately competing among themselves for the title of ‘who weakens Israel more,’” Smotrich stated.
Education Minister Yoav Kisch directly addressed Bennett, Lapid, and Golan, asking, “Aren’t you tired of pumping out defeatism that echoes the enemy’s media?”
Culture and Sport Minister Miki Zohar stated that Bennett and Lapid “keep proving to us again and again how unfit they are for the people’s choice.”
“I have yet to encounter such a level of irresponsible populism,” he added.
Lapid sharply responded to Zohar, saying that the peak of populism was “going to war, failing to achieve any of its objectives, causing an unprecedented political and diplomatic disaster, and then blaming Lapid and Bennett for noticing it.”