Lapid invites Netanyahu for security briefing as the 2 haggle over procedure

Prime Minister Yair Lapid formally invited opposition chief Benjamin Netanyahu to a routine security briefing, in the continuation of haggling about the matter.

Lapid invites his rival in the upcoming Knesset elections to a meeting along with his military secretary, Avi Gil.

During a phone call Friday between Lapid and Netanyahu, the two split over how the opposition leader would receive the updates on Israel’s security situations. Lapid’s spokesperson said the prime minister invited Netanyahu to “come, as is accepted, for a security briefing in [Lapid’s] office with the military secretary.” But according to Netanyahu’s spokesperson, the opposition head responded that he wanted to get the legally mandated security updates from Lapid’s military secretary, but without Lapid being present, “in order to prevent the security briefing from turning into a political tool ahead of elections.”

Netanyahu’s apparent concern is not to be seen, and possibly photographed, being briefed by the prime minister he is seeking to defeat.

While the opposition leader is required by law to receive security updates from the prime minister, Netanyahu refused to comply over the past year, as he regularly argued against Naftali Bennett’s legitimacy as premier. Instead, he received the updates from Bennett’s military secretary Avi Gil, managing to avoid being photographed while receiving a briefing from his political rival.