From the Liveblog of
Monday, January 5, 2026
Lapid pans Netanyahu on security, Haredi draft, Qatargate: ‘We ran this country much better’
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleAriela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.
Speaking at the Knesset, opposition leader and Yesh Atid party chair Yair Lapid excoriates Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his government’s ongoing attempts to pass a draft exemption bill for yeshiva students, the so-called Qatargate scandal, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s recent controversial attack on Supreme Court President Isaac Amit.
“You stand here after 1,200 deaths and say you want to promote evasion to protect the world of Torah?” Lapid says, referring to the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks, which saw the murder of some 1,200 people in Israel. “How dare you?”
The opposition leader adds that “bereaved families sit and collapse” watching the government’s attempts to pass a highly controversial draft exemption law for yeshiva students and hearing ultra-Orthodox leaders comparing proposed sanctions on draft evaders to the yellow star that the Nazis forced Jews to wear during the Holocaust.
Lapid also condemns Netanyahu’s allegedly insufficient response regarding Smotrich’s recent comments regarding Amit.
“Your finance minister said that the Supreme Court president should be ‘trampled.’ How come we haven’t heard a single word of condemnation from you?” says Lapid, who, along with other opposition figures, accuses Smotrich of incitement.
On the Qatargate scandal — in which several Netanyahu aides are accused of acting as lobbyists for Qatar while in the prime minister’s employ for over a year after October 7, despite the Gulf state’s strong ties to Hamas — Lapid asks why Netanyahu does not fire the aides.
“There is not a single Israeli citizen who understands how you don’t say: ‘Anyone who received money from Qatar betrayed Israel and me, and he will never enter my office again,'” he continues.
“We’ve heard your story 70 times already about how you changed the Middle East. I ask you, how did you change the lives of the citizens of Israel?” says the lawmaker. “We know the answer, and so do you. We ran this country much better than you — more quietly, with many fewer dead and wounded, and much more efficiently.”
The Times of Israel Community.