Lapid pans ‘anti-Zionist, anti-patriotic’ Likud after its lawmakers voice support for Haredi anti-draft protest

By Sam Sokol 27 October 2025, 3:55 pm

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Sam 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"

Opposition leader and Yesh Atid chair Yair Lapid leads a faction meeting at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, on October 27, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party after two members indicated that they are supportive of a massive Haredi anti-conscription demonstration planned for Thursday, and that they are considering taking part.

Asked by The Times of Israel about Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi and MK Avichai Boaron’s statements about the protest, Lapid questions the ruling party’s Zionist credentials.

“How can they continue to call themselves a national party? This is anti-Zionist. This is anti-patriotic. This is anti-Jewish in my eyes. And the fact that Likud has become enslaved to the needs of the ultra-Orthodox for religious coercion at this level is unforgivable,” Lapid says.

“These people are not really Likud. What do Shlomo Karhi and the values of Likud have in common? What do Avichai Boaron and the values of Likud have in common? How can they even say they are part of a national and liberal party? When they want to demonstrate in favor of draft evasion and corruption, are they?”

Asked by another reporter about Netanyahu’s recent assertion that Washington is not dictating actions in Gaza, Lapid slams the prime minister’s handling of post-ceasefire Gaza.

“In the past weeks, some of the most critical decisions of this country were made in Washington instead of Jerusalem. Under regular circumstances, I would be protesting against it, but the White House is making much better decisions about our future than the current government, and therefore, we don’t want this to continue, but we don’t think it’s a bad idea at the current situation,” he says in English.

Netanyahu insisted on Sunday that Israel is a sovereign state that makes its own decisions on national security matters, in the wake of growing rumblings that key decisions about the future of the Gaza Strip are being made in Washington.