Lapid calls to oust Netanyahu as prime minister, replace him from within Likud

Illustrative: Opposition Leader Yair Lapid speaks during a press conference in Tel Aviv, October 26, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Illustrative: Opposition Leader Yair Lapid speaks during a press conference in Tel Aviv, October 26, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid calls to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from his job and replace him with another figure from within the Likud, without calling a new national election.

In an interview with Channel 12 news, Lapid says the public has lost faith in Netanyahu, following Hamas’s murderous rampage through southern Israel on October 7, and “we can’t run an extended [military] operation with a prime minister we do not have faith in.”

He did not name another Likud member he thinks can take on the job, but claims there are several lawmakers in the party who understand it is time for Netanyahu to go. He says his Yesh Atid party would join a wide government helmed by Likud if it were headed by another party leader.

In response, the Likud party said it was “sad and embarrassing” to see Lapid “play politics in a time of war” and try to oust the prime minister “who is leading the operation.”

Labor chief Merav Michaeli writes on X that she is glad to see Lapid join her call for Netanyahu to be replaced.

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