From Lapid says ‘forever war’ will go on as long as government in power
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"
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “prefers the war” and as long as it exists the war will continue, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid tells members of his Yesh Atid party during a faction meeting in the Knesset.
Netanyahu spoke so much about the Philadelphi Corridor during his Monday evening press conference that “that everyone missed that he said one more thing, even though he said it three times,” Lapid says. “He said: ‘The war must not end.'”
“What Netanyahu is saying, what his cabinet is telling us, is that we are in a new version of Lebanon. It took us 18 years to leave Lebanon [and] they are offering us the same thing: years of war, years of economic crisis, years of destruction and fear and violence. This is what the government is offering us. A war that will go on and on. A forever war that has and will never have an end date,” Lapid declares.
“The State of Israel needs to end this war, on its own terms. Make a hostage deal and close the deal. Ending the war is in Israel’s interest, [our] interest, economic interest, political interest,” he continues.
“We have big tasks ahead of us. Establish a regional coalition with the Saudis and the Americans against the Iranian threat. Get the economy back on track before it crashes. To rebuild the army in the face of the threats we face,” Lapid says.
“The current government does not know how to do any of these things. That’s why it prefers the war. Because it frees it from the need to face the challenges. We do know how to face these challenges. We’ve done it before, we’ll do it again, better. It’s time to change the government and end the war.”
