Lapid questions Netanyahu’s commitment to free the hostages

Responding to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence that he has “left no stone unturned” in his effort to free Israeli hostages held in Gaza, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid tells lawmakers that Netanyahu “is not ready to take the smallest political risk to bring 101 hostages home.”

“Do the government ministers, the members of the cabinet, the prime minister, especially the prime minister, really believe that they have no more sacred, greater duty than to return hostages home?” Lapid asks following a speech by Netanyahu in the Knesset plenum during a so-called 40 signatures debate — which the opposition can call once a month and the prime minister is legally obliged to attend.

“What if a reservist is kidnapped tomorrow? Mr. Prime Minister, will you do everything to get him back? Will he return home or will he end up like Hersh and Carmel and Eden and Yotam and Alon?” Lapid asks, naming Israeli hostages who died in Gaza.

“The reservists can’t trust you. They look at this government, they look at you, Mr. Netanyahu, and they know that there is no one to trust. They are fulfilling their duty, the government is not fulfilling its duty,” he continues, linking the hostage issue to Netanyahu’s support for legislation to maintain draft exemptions for the ultra-Orthodox.

“Actions speak louder than words. If there’s no hostage deal, then you didn’t succeed. If you fired the defense minister to pass a draft evasion law, then the evasion law is more important to you than security.”