Israel lost deterrence, Jewish terrorist violence spreading, says former PM Yair Lapid

Israel’s Opposition leader Yair Lapid on Monday accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of leading to a “total loss of Israeli deterrence” in the wake of an unprecedented Iranian attack.

In a scathing criticism posted on X, former Premier Mr. Lapid also said that under Mr. Netanyahu, “Jewish terrorist violence” against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank was “out of control”.

Mr. Netanyahu, who returned to power in 2022 at the helm of a coalition with farright parties, has brought “heaps of destruction from Beeri to Kiryat Shmona”, Mr. Lapid said, calling for early elections.

Beeri, a kibbutz community near the Gaza border, came under attack when Hamas militants stormed the area on October 7, triggering the ongoing war, while the north

Yair Lapid

ern town of Kiryat Shmona has suffered during months of crossborder fire between Israeli forces and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

Mr. Lapid’s remarks came two days after Iran’s attack on Israel.

Mr. Netanyahu’s Cabinet has weighed Israel’s response to the Iranian attack, but the Prime Minister has not made any public comments.

In the West Bank, where violence has soared since the start of the IsraelHamas war, Israeli settlers torched Palestinian homes and cars over the weekend, killing at least two persons, after an Israeli teen was “murdered in a suspected terrorist attack”, according to the Israeli military.

Pointing to surging “terrorist” settler attacks, Mr. Lapid said: “If we don’t move this government, it will bring destruction upon us.”

The government, which includes hardline settlers, has prioritised Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967.

Mr. Netanyahu has faced in recent months mass protests over the fate of hostages held in Gaza and pressure from a resurgent antigovernment movement.

The Prime Minister’s Likud party responded to Mr. Lapid in a statement stressing Mr. Netanyahu’s part in “the global campaign” to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons — which Tehran denies it is seeking.