Opposition leader Yair Lapid attacked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today (Monday), following his words last night in an interview with CNN in which he refused to take responsibility for the events of October 7 and asked: "Did they ask Roosevelt to take responsibility after Pearl Harbor?".
"Five weeks have passed since the terrible massacre of October 7. In these five weeks, the opposition put aside all disputes, all interests, everything that could interfere with the conduct of the war," said Lapid. "The people sitting here around the table do the government's work. They went to funerals and funerals, and they were with the evacuees and with the families of the abductees and they helped deal with bureaucratic problems and they defended Israel in the international media. Every time one of us was asked who was to blame for what happened, we said, 'Speak With us after the war.' "
"What we are doing, the government should also do - put politics aside and do only what is good for the country," he added and argued. "This government should close at least five government offices that we all know are unnecessary, and transfer the money to the management of the war, to the care of the evacuees, to the rehabilitation of the settlements surrounding Gaza and to aid businesses."
According to him, "Smotrich is not the minister of finance, he is the minister of the sector. In the middle of the war, he transferred hundreds of millions to his voters in Judea and Samaria. Transfers NIS 1.3 billion to ultra-Orthodox institutions, without math and English studies, without supervision, without indicators, and without goals. To the directorate for the rehabilitation of the Gaza envelope settlements On the other hand, he transferred only one-tenth of the money promised to her. Yariv Levin continues, even these days, after all the damage he caused, to try to appoint judges of the Ecclesiastical Forum to the Supreme Court in order to continue the coup d'état. This is the best politics in wartime."
"Above all: the prime minister should stop his attempts to remove responsibility from himself" attacked Lapid. "If he wants us not to deal with the question of who is to blame now, let him not sit on CNN and compare himself to Roosevelt. Roosevelt did not transfer suitcases of money to General Yamamoto and did not strengthen the Japanese for 13 years because of wrong and failed policies that led to disaster."
"In the last few weeks, I have often asked myself if it is not our responsibility to deal with the question of who should lead the country in these difficult days," he clarified. "I stand behind the decision to wait it out. The people of Israel must stand united against their enemies, eradicate Hamas, and bring home the abductees, there may also be no escape from a confrontation with Hezbollah."
"We will continue to support the IDF and the state, both in Israel and in the international arena," concluded Lapid. "On the other hand, if Netanyahu continues to discuss who is guilty and who is competent, we will also discuss the question of who is guilty and who is competent. He will not come out of this discussion well. Instead, I suggest that he and his government focus on the management of the war and improve the shameful management of the economy and society in Israel."
