On Monday, Israel’s opposition leader, Yair Lapid, accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration of causing a “total loss of Israeli deterrence” following an unprecedented Iranian strike.
In a blistering X post, former Prime Minister Lapid also claimed that under Netanyahu, “Jewish terrorist violence” against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank was “out of control”.
Netanyahu, who came to power in late 2022 as part of a coalition with far-right parties, has caused “heaps of destruction from Beeri to Kiryat Shmona,” according to Lapid, who is advocating for early elections.
Beeri, a kibbutz community on the Gaza border, was attacked by Hamas terrorists on October 7, sparking the ongoing conflict, while the northern town of Kiryat Shmona has suffered from months of cross-border fighting between Israeli troops and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
Lapid’s comments come two days after Iran, which supports both Hamas and Hezbollah, launched over 300 missiles and drones toward Israel in retribution for a fatal attack on the Iranian embassy in Damascus.
Israel, the United States, and other allies intercepted virtually all of the rockets in the late Saturday aerial onslaught, which marked Iran’s first direct military action against its old rival Israel.
Netanyahu’s cabinet has discussed Israel’s reaction to the Iranian strike, but the prime leader has made no public statements.
In the West Bank, where violence has risen since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, Israeli settlers burnt Palestinian houses and cars over the weekend, killing at least two people, after an Israeli teen’s “murder in a suspected terrorist attack,” according to the Israeli military.
Lapid, citing rising “terrorist” settlement attacks, warned: “If we don’t move this government, it will bring destruction upon us.”
The cabinet, which includes extreme settlers, has promoted Jewish settlement development in the West Bank, which Israel has controlled since 1967.
In recent months, Netanyahu has faced widespread protests over the condition of captives in Gaza, as well as pressure from a rising anti-government movement.
The prime minister’s Likud party reacted to Lapid with a statement emphasizing Netanyahu’s role in “the global campaign” to prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons, which Tehran denies desiring.
Iqra Khan