Netanyahu floats debate with Lapid

Yesh Atid dismisses proposal as ‘not serious’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday agreed to opposition leader Yair Lapid’s challenge to a debate.

“I am ready to tell [Lapid] simply: Let’s agree now on a moderator and go to debate,” he said in an interview with journalist Erel Segal at a conference sponsored by rightwing Channel 20.

In response, Yesh Atid said: “It is clear Netanyahu isn’t serious.”

Lapid made the offer at a conference hosted by Channel 12 on March 7 but since then, Netanyahu has said he would only accept the challenge when Lapid announced he was running for prime minister.

From Netanyahu’s perspective, Lapid made that announcement in an interview with Jerusalem Post editor-in-chief Yaakov Katz sponsored by the Tel Aviv International Salon on Monday night, when he said: “I am ready. The party is ready. We have the right plans, the right abilities and experience. I served in various positions that prepare you. If I had the chance, of course I would be more than honored to serve my country this way.”

While Yesh Atid denied that Lapid had formally announced his candidacy in the interview, Netanyahu immediately tweeted the headline from the event and wrote: “The truth has come to light: The upcoming election is Netanyahu or Lapid.”

There has not been a formal debate among candidates for prime minister since 1999, and there has not been one with all prime ministerial candidates since 1996.

A poll broadcast by Channel 12 on Tuesday night predicted 30 seats for Likud, 18 for Yesh Atid, 10 each for Yamina and New Hope, eight each for the Joint List and Shas, seven each for Yisrael Beytenu and United Torah Judaism, six for Labor and four each for Blue and White, Meretz, the Religious Zionist Party and United Arab List (Ra’am).

Lapid continued his efforts

Netanyahu then ordered that Jordanian flights not be allowed into Israeli airspace. Within several hours, before any Jordanian flights were actually blocked, Jordan agreed to allow Netanyahu’s flyover, but by then, Netanyahu and bin Salman had agreed to postpone their meeting.

Meanwhile, Israel is on the way to making peace with four more countries in the region, Netanyahu said Tuesday.

“I brought four peace agreements, and there are another four on the way,” he said in an interview with Ynet. “I talked about one of them yesterday.”

“One of the leaders in the region” had called him on Monday night, and they spoke for 45 minutes, he said.

Netanyahu rebuffed accusations that he did not attend a planned Likud event in Ashkelon on Monday night because of the threat of rocket

fire from Gaza. Rather, he was speaking to the regional leader, and since he does not have good cellphone reception in his armored car, he would not have been able to conduct the call on the way to Ashkelon, he said.

“I don’t want there to be [rocket] launches because of me and because of a political event, but that was not the reason,” Netanyahu said. “We were significantly late… I will visit Ashkelon, and we will take care of their security.”

Over the past year, Israel normalized relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco. Several countries are thought to be considering following suit, including Niger, Mauritania, Indonesia and others.

Ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia have grown closer in recent years. Netanyahu met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in November, and they considered meeting in Abu Dhabi last week. However, it was delayed due to the diplomatic imbroglio between Israel and Jordan.•