Lapid slams Netanyahu for ‘shameful press conference of a prime minister without a soul’
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 denounces Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Monday evening press conference as “unfounded political spin,” arguing that what he said about the Philadelphi Corridor “has no relation to reality.”
“Not one professional buys this spin. Not the security personnel, not the international system, not the fighters who are actually in Gaza and know the reality there. I don’t have a presentation with pictures, but there are facts,” he says. “Israel evacuated the Philadelphi Corridor 19 years ago, and Netanyahu voted in favor. Both in the government and in the Knesset. Netanyahu was prime minister for 15 years. It did not occur to him to recapture the Philadelphi Corridor.”
“The war began on October 7. Until May 20, eight months ago, he did not bother to send the IDF to the Philadelphi Corridor,” Lapid argues. “All he described today was his own failure.”
“The issue of the corridor is not Netanyahu’s concern, but, rather, the Ben Gvir-Smotrich Corridor,” Lapid continues, naming the far-right national security and finance ministers. “This is his new trick to prevent the disintegration of his coalition. It is about politics, and only politics. Netanyahu spoke today as if October 7 did not happen on his watch. As if he is not responsible and guilty of the most terrible disaster and massacre in the country’s history,” Lapid asserts, calling Netanyahu, “Mr. Failure and Mr. Disaster.”
“At least Netanyahu said one truth: that he does not want to end the war. He said it three times, that he doesn’t want to end the war — which means he doesn’t want to make a hostage deal; he wants war forever. His words tonight had one terrible meaning: he will not make a deal. He won’t bring our children home.”
Lapid appeals to the “more responsible” people in Netanyahu’s coalition to give him an ultimatum that is the opposite of Ben Gvir’s: “You can tell him, if there is no deal, there’s no government.”
Turning to Netanyahu’s call for unity, Lapid says that someone who truly wants unity should not demonize opponents, such as the “hundreds of thousands of patriots” who have taken to the streets in the past day and during today’s general strike.
“The Histadrut [labor federation] did not transfer millions of dollars in suitcases to Hamas — you did it,” he says, addressing Netanyahu. “It was not the opposition that declared that Hamas needed to be strengthened — you did it. It was not the families of the hostages who released Sinwar from prison in a Shalit deal — you did it,” he concludes. “It was a shameful press conference of a prime minister without a soul.”
