From the Liveblog of
Monday, October 14, 2024
Lapid pans government decision to hold 2nd day of mourning for Oct. 7 massacre
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. 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 Yair Lapid pans the government’s decision to hold a second national day of mourning for the October 7 massacre — this one in accordance with the Hebrew calendar and marked with two state ceremonies organized by Transportation Minister Miri Regev.
“I don’t understand why we need this ceremony,” he tells reporters ahead of a meeting of his Yesh Atid party’s lawmakers in Tel Aviv. “We had one already.”
Instead, the country requires a “government that functions” and will advance a hostage deal to bring back the remaining Israelis held captive in Gaza, he declares.
Asked by The Times of Israel if, now that the New Hope party has joined the coalition, he still stands by his previous prediction that the government will fall by the end of the year, he replies in the affirmative.
“Yes. Both because of the enlistment law [of Haredim into the military] and because of the budget. They don’t have the money that they promised to distribute to everybody. So it could be that I’m mistaken but I think” it will fall, he says.
