Lapid: Netanyahu failing to achieve strategic victory over Iran, dismantling Israel from within

By Sam Sokol 31 March 2026, 9:52 pm

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Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. 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 delivers a video statement, March 31, 2026. (Screenshot)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is incapable of achieving victory in the war against Iran and has continuously failed, despite his boasts to the contrary, to accomplish any real changes in the Middle East, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid declares.

Responding to a primetime televised speech by Netanyahu, who bragged that Israel has hit Iran and its axis with “ten plagues,” Lapid says in a video rebuttal that while he continues to support the wars in Iran and Lebanon, he also believes that “Netanyahu is unable to reach a strategic resolution” and “the time has come for us to recognize the fact that he is simply incapable.”

Netanyahu delivered yet another speech declaring that he “changed the Middle East,” Lapid says. However, “one word is missing from this speech: almost. You almost changed the Middle East, and it always turns out in the end that it hasn’t changed,” Lapid adds.

While the army and public have shown courage and resilience, “the one who fails to fulfill his role, time and again, is Netanyahu himself,” the opposition leader continues, stating that Hezbollah fired rockets from Lebanon before October 7, 2023, and continues to do so today, Hamas still has control in part of Gaza and Iran is still ruled by a supreme leader named Khamenei who is shooting ballistic missiles at Israeli cities.

Rather than achieving victory, Netanyahu has “dismantled us from within,” Lapid alleges, slamming the government for attempting to “steal NIS 800 million from Israeli citizens” for Haredi education and working to pass a law exempting yeshiva students from military service during an IDF manpower shortage.

“Last night, after they already knew that four soldiers had been killed in Lebanon, Ben Gvir and his friends opened champagne in the Knesset plenary and celebrated,” he continues, referring to the far-right national security minister’s celebration of the passage of a law mandating the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of lethal terror attacks. “On the eve of Passover, it is time to go out from slavery to freedom and replace this terrible government.”