Lapid, bereaved father criticize PM for not meeting families of those killed: ‘You’re the PM of both successes and failures’

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid criticizes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for not meeting with the families of those killed on October 7 or the hostages killed in Gaza.

“If you are the prime minister – you are the prime minister of both successes and failures,” Lapid tells the Kan public broadcaster. “Disappearing when things don’t go your way is disgraceful, but is this something we didn’t know about before?”

There has been growing criticism of Netanyahu for meeting personally with the families of the hostages rescued yesterday, while sufficing with sending a written message when rescue attempts go awry, or nothing at all in many cases.

Former minister Izhar Shay, whose son IDF Sgt. Yaron Oree Shay was killed on October 7 defending an Israeli community during Hamas’s attack on Israel, posts a photo of his son with Netanyahu.

“I am one of those bereaved parents who the prime minister did not bother to call. My son fell among heroes and in his death saved the lives of hundreds of citizens,” Shay writes.

“But even if he had been murdered in his sleep or kidnapped from his home, a moral and honorable prime minister would have called to comfort and give strength. And to apologize that it happened on his watch. I’m not mad at him. Not at all. I despise him, wretched man,” he writes.

אני אחד מאותם הורים שכולים שאליהם ראה"מ לא טרח להתקשר. הבן שלי נפל בקרב גיבורים והציל במותו את חייהם של מאות אזרחים. אבל גם אילו נרצח בשנתו או נחטף מביתו, ראש ממשלה מוסרי וערכי היה מתקשר לנחם ולחזק. ולהתנצל שזה קרה במשמרת שלו. אני לא כועס עליו. בכלל לא. אני בז לו, איש עלוב. pic.twitter.com/KGBLqyyh3T

— Izhar Shay – יזהר שי (@Izhars7) June 9, 2024