From the Liveblog of
Monday, December 29, 2025
Lapid accuses Netanyahu of putting Israel at risk of becoming a client state of the US
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Addressing the Knesset Subcommittee on Foreign Relations and Public Diplomacy, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid expresses concern regarding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s state visit to the United States, where he is scheduled to meet with US President Donald Trump today for talks expected to focus on the future of the Gaza Strip and ongoing threats from Hezbollah and Iran.
“When an Israeli prime minister travels to meet an American president, we wish him success, but I am concerned. Netanyahu is arriving at this meeting without any organized idea about Gaza. And when you don’t have an idea, someone else will decide for you,” says Lapid.
“This has already happened more than once this year, and it is leading us toward the status of a client state. What does the government want to put forward against the possibility that Turkey and Qatar — two ideological partners of Hamas — will become the dominant actors inside Gaza? I propose again, as I have proposed throughout the past year, that we work to make Egypt the entity that administers Gaza,” he says.
“If the Israeli government has no ideas, the Americans will have ideas. The Qataris will have ideas. The Turks will have ideas. Hamas will have ideas. Today, the State of Israel is a politically paralyzed body.”
The Times of Israel Community.