Lapid: Netanyahu incapable of reaching victory, is dismantling Israel from within

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is incapable of achieving victory in the war against Iran and has continuously failed, despite his boasts to the contrary, to accomplish any real changes in the Middle East, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid declared Tuesday in his response to a primetime televised speech by Netanyahu.

In the premier’s video address, he boasted of Israel’s accomplishments in the war against Iran, as well as the “10 plagues” — a reference to the holiday of Passover, which begins Wednesday evening — that he claimed Israel has inflicted upon the Islamic Republic and its regional proxies.

“Netanyahu is unable to reach a strategic resolution,” Lapid said, cautioning that while he continues to support the wars in Iran and Lebanon, he also believes that “the time has come for us to recognize the fact that he is simply incapable.”

Netanyahu delivered yet another speech declaring that he “changed the Middle East,” he said.

However, “one word is missing from this speech: almost. You almost changed the Middle East, and it always turns out in the end that it hasn’t changed,” Lapid added.

While the army and public have shown courage and resilience, “the one who fails to fulfill his role, time and again, is Netanyahu himself,” the opposition leader continued.

“Before October 7 [2023], Hezbollah fired rockets at us from Lebanon,” he said. “Today, Hezbollah is firing rockets at us from Lebanon.”

“Before October 7, Hamas controlled Gaza and had an army of tens of thousands,” Lapid noted. “Today, Hamas controls Gaza and has an army of tens of thousands.”

“Before October 7, Iran had a supreme leader named Khamenei,” he continued, referring to the slain Iranian leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed by Israel in the opening strike of the current war.

“Today, Iran has a supreme leader named Khamenei,” Lapid quipped, referring to the late supreme leader’s son, Mojtaba, who has since been elected as the new leader of the Islamic Republic.

Rather than achieving victory, Netanyahu has “dismantled us from within,” the opposition leader alleged, slamming the government for attempting to “steal NIS 800 million ($255 million) from Israeli citizens” for Haredi education and working to pass a law exempting yeshiva students from military service during an IDF manpower shortage.

“Last night, after they already knew that four soldiers had been killed in Lebanon, Ben Gvir and his friends opened champagne in the Knesset plenary and celebrated,” Lapid said, referring to the far-right national security minister’s celebration of the passage of legislation mandating the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of lethal terror attacks.

“On the eve of Passover, it is time to go out from slavery to freedom and replace this terrible government,” Lapid concluded.

In Netanyahu’s speech, the premier invoked the upcoming Passover holiday by listing the “plagues” that he said Israel has delivered to Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and others in the West Bank, as well as to the ousted Assad regime in Syria.

He also listed five “plagues” delivered to Iran — hitting its nuclear program, ballistic missiles, regime infrastructure, internal security forces and senior leaders.

The premier went on to promise that “sooner or later,” the Iranian regime will fall — seemingly contradicting US President Donald Trump’s assertion that the killing of a series of top Islamic Republic officials has already constituted “regime change.”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.