Live UpdateFrom the Liveblog of Tuesday, January 31, 2023

Lapid claps back at Netanyahu over charge opposition seeking to hurt economy

31 January 2023, 3:27 pm 0 Edit

Opposition leader Yair Lapid speaks during a faction meeting of Yesh Atid party, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on January 30, 2023. (Olivier Fitoussi/ Flash90)

Opposition leader Yair Lapid responds to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s charge that his political rivals are seeking to hurt the economy in protest of the new government’s efforts to overhaul the judiciary.

“It’s not fun to be a defendant in criminal cases, but you don’t need to turn the bitterness into the destruction of Israel’s democracy and economy,” Lapid, who heads the Yesh Atid party, writes on Twitter in reference to Netanyahu’s ongoing trial on graft charges and his judicial shakeup plans.

Netanyahu said earlier today, “It’s not pleasant to lose elections… but you don’t need to turn this bitterness into harming the Israeli economy.”