Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid called on Wednesday evening for the departure of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu without waiting for the end of the military operation against the Palestinian Islamists Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
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“Netanyahu should leave immediately (…) We need changes, Netanyahu cannot remain prime minister,” Mr Lapid said in an interview with Israeli broadcaster N12.
“We cannot afford to wage a long military campaign with a prime minister in whom the population no longer has confidence,” Mr. Lapid added.
Four days after the bloody Hamas attack on Israeli territory on October 7, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Benny Gantz announced an agreement to form an “emergency government” for the duration of the war.
For his part, Yaïr Lapid had accused the Netanyahu government of an “unforgivable failure” for failing to prevent the Hamas attack, unprecedented since the founding of Israel, in which, according to the authorities, around 1,200 people were killed, mostly civilians were massacred.
And if he had advocated for a “government of national unity” during the war, Mr. Lapid, like Mr. Gantz, would have refused to join the government led by Mr. Netanyahu, which he said was made up of “extremists.” like Itamar Ben Gvir, the minister of public security and leader of the far-right group Jewish Force.
However, the current opposition leader, who had been in power at the head of a diverse coalition before Netanyahu’s return to office after the November 2022 general election, has not publicly called for Mr. Netanyahu’s resignation since the October 7 attacks, it pointed out Israeli media on Thursday.
In his interview with broadcaster N12, Mr. Lapid did not call for early elections but rather a motion of confidence in parliament, paving the way for the formation of a new government, this time led by another member of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.
“This is not the time to hold elections (…) We should choose national reconstruction with another prime minister from the Likud,” Mr. Lapid said.
The latter received an immediate rebuff from Mr. Netanyahu’s party, which in a press release called such a “wartime” proposal “regrettable” and “shameful.”