Clear words from Israel’s opposition leader Lapid: Netanyahu has “lost the trust of his citizens.” The Likud party should elect a new prime minister. What is needed is “a government of reconstruction” – without Netanyahu.
40 days after the start of the Gaza war, Israeli opposition leader Jair Lapid has called for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign. Netanyahu’s Likud should elect a new prime minister and we will get to work together, Lapid wrote on the X platform, formerly Twitter. “The time has come – we need a national government of reconstruction.”
Accordingly, the new government he is considering would include both his centrist future party and religious parties – but not Netanyahu’s current right-wing extremist coalition partners. Netanyahu currently leads the most right-wing government in Israel’s history.
Lapid further wrote: “Netanyahu has lost the trust of his citizens, the trust of the international community and most seriously – the trust of the security apparatus.”
Netanyahu accused security authorities
After the Hamas attack on October 7, there was massive criticism of Netanyahu in Israel, among other things because he took no responsibility for the fact that Israel was surprised by the attack and was unable to repel it. Instead, he accused the security authorities of failing, but then withdrew the accusation. Afterwards, he apologized for his statement and acknowledged a “terrible defeat” in the face of the terrorist attack, but he still did not take direct responsibility. In contrast, leading representatives of the military and secret service also acknowledged their responsibility after the devastating major attack by Hamas terrorists.
Netanyahu and the Israeli government were already criticized in the months before the war for putting Israel’s security at risk for a planned, highly controversial judicial reform.
Lapid: “We’re out of time”
“We’ve waited 40 days, we’re running out of time,” explains Lapid in his entry on where we continue to argue and explain why the other side is a disaster.”
Lapid had already commented on this on Israeli television on Wednesday. According to the AFP news agency, in an interview with the Israeli broadcaster N12, he demanded: “Netanyahu should leave immediately (…) We need a change.”