Ahead of PM’s meeting with Trump, Lapid says government won’t fall over completion of hostage deal

Ahead of Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming meeting with US President Donald Trump, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid reiterates his offer to provide the prime minister with a political “safety net” in order to complete the upcoming stages of the ceasefire deal in Gaza.

Speaking at Kibbutz Nir Oz along the Gaza border, Lapid says that “the American administration needs to know that there is no risk to the government because of the deal.”

“Tomorrow, a meeting will be held in Washington between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu. It is important to clarify before this meeting: Netanyahu has a safety net from the opposition for the entire hostage deal, in all its stages,” Lapid says.

“There is no political obstacle that prevents Netanyahu from reaching the second phase of the deal. It has a huge majority [of support] among the people, it has a huge majority here in the Knesset and in the political system in Israel,” he continues, adding that “the hostage deal will not bring down the government.”

“Without President Trump and his commitment to the issue, it is very doubtful whether we would have seen the men and women who returned home in the last two weeks alive,” Lapid says. “The [US] president promised that he would make sure that the deal continues until the last of the hostages returns home, those who are dead and those who are alive, and we know that we can trust his word.”

Former national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party has already withdrawn from the coalition over opposition to the deal while Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has threatened to pull his Religious Zionism party out as well if Israel does not return to fighting Hamas after the 42-day first phase of the agreement.