Lapid says Trump plan imperfect but best out there, warns PM against inserting own ‘but’

US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza “is not perfect, but it is the best option on the table,” declares Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, in his first in-depth reaction.

Lapid claims the plan is “very similar” to one he shopped around in meetings with key players a year ago, lamenting the delay in endorsing the idea.

Israel has lost a year in which its soldiers and hostages have been dying “while our international status disintegrated before our eyes” and “time is running out,” Lapid asserts, presenting Trump’s plan as the only viable option.

And while there are problems with the American outline, “the experience of the Abraham Accords shows that President Trump’s method works: they mark a big goal, build a timetable, and work out the details on the fly.”

Under Trump’s plan, Israel would get back the hostages, withdraw from Gaza while maintaining its security and expand the Abraham Accords, all of which “are clear Israeli interests,” he says.

According to Lapid, the biggest threat to the proposal are not those who might outright reject it but those who say “yes, but,” pinning such an approach on Netanyahu, who endorsed the plan from the White House on Monday.

“He usually says ‘yes’ in Washington, when he stands in front of cameras in the White House and feels like a groundbreaking statesman, and the ‘but’ when he returns to Israel and the ‘base’ reminds him who’s boss,” Lapid writes.

“The idea of ​​annexing Gaza was a crazy idea from the very beginning, and this plan saves us not only from a destructive political and security situation, but also from the attempt to drag us into becoming a backward and angry Sparta, poor and isolated in the world. We need to say ‘yes’ to the plan without ‘buts’ and work towards its immediate implementation despite all the obstacles.”