Lapid says Israel should accept 7-day truce; opposition right-wingers disagree
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 says that Israel should partially accept a joint US-French call for an immediate truce between Israel and Hezbollah, but only for seven days and not 21, in order to keep the terror organization from regrouping.
“The State of Israel should announce this morning that it accepts the Biden-Macron ceasefire proposal, but only for seven days so as not to allow Hezbollah to restore its command and control systems,” he tweets. “We will not accept any proposal that does not include removing Hezbollah from our northern border.”
“Any proposal that is put forward must allow the residents of the north to immediately return safely to their homes and lead to the renewal of negotiations for a hostage deal” with Hamas, he continues, stating that “any violation of a ceasefire, even the slightest, will lead to Israel attacking again in full force and over all parts of Lebanon.”
Lapid’s statement comes a day after he received a security briefing from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Responding to Lapid, New Hope party chairman Gideon Sa’ar says that the opposite is true and that “only Hezbollah will benefit” from a temporary ceasefire.
New Hope MK Ze’ev Elkin, a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, agrees, tweeting that such a halt would “only allow Hezbollah to recover from the blows it received and reorganize for fighting.”
“The Israeli demand in Lebanon should be sharp and clear: there is no temporary ceasefire, only a permanent ceasefire without any connection to the continuation of the fighting in Gaza, and moving Hezbollah beyond the Litani River.”