Lapid says Netanyahu ‘deceived the citizens of Israel, deceived his partners’ in Iran war, caused ‘strategic debacle’

In a scathing critique of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid calls the war with Iran a “diplomatic disaster on a scale I do not recall ever seeing.”

“In a few hours, a day, two days, or whenever he feels he can emerge from the bunker, Benjamin Netanyahu will stand before the State of Israel and try to sell you on the idea that the campaign in Iran was a success. That will be a complete lie. The army did amazing work; the best air force in the world carried out everything asked of it and more,” he says.

By contrast, he says, “Netanyahu led us into a strategic debacle. Nothing less. What we saw was a disgraceful combination of arrogance, irresponsibility, lack of planning, negligent staff work, zero handling of the home front, and lies sold to the Americans that damaged the trust between our two countries.”

“Of all the possible outcomes, Netanyahu delivered the worst one: the regime in Iran was not defeated, the nuclear threat was not removed, and the ballistic missiles and Hezbollah’s missiles remain aimed at every home in Israel,” he adds.

“The prime minister deceived the citizens of Israel, deceived his partners, and, through a series of theatrical press conferences, sold the public a strategic plan that did not exist,” he charges.

“This war was managed as if the citizens of the State of Israel were the government’s cannon fodder. No sheltering solutions, no educational plans, no compensation plans, no plan for Ben Gurion Airport – nothing! Zero concern for the citizens,” he says.

“What happened is that Netanyahu went to war under ideal conditions, but with absolutely no idea how to end it. On the battlefield, we won; on the diplomatic front, it is a total defeat,” Lapid charges. “In the words of King Pyrrhus: “One more such victory, and we are lost.”

The Democrats chairman Yair Golan, meanwhile, critiques the assassination of Iran’s then-supreme leader ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the start of the war as a “mistake that did not contribute to Israel’s security,” in an interview with Army Radio.

It marks a turnaround from the beginning of the war, when Golan called the killing of Khamenei “a dramatic and meaningful step.”