From the Liveblog of
Sunday, April 6, 2025
Lapid: ‘The government will not threaten the High Court of Justice’
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam 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 condemns Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s “violent, humiliating and dangerous response” to the opposition’s lawsuit against the firing of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar.
“Your threatening letters will not help, this criminal language will not scare us. Those being investigated will not fire the investigators, and the government will not threaten the High Court of Justice,” Lapid declares at an annual gathering of members of his centrist Yesh Atid party.
“You said about our government that we bought the Muslim Brotherhood, now it turns out that the Muslim Brotherhood bought your government, an Arab country bought Netanyahu’s office,” Lapid continues — drawing a comparison between right-wing criticism of Lapid and Naftali Bennett’s decision to include MK Mansour Abbas’s Islamist Ra’am, or United Arab List, party in their coalition, and accusations that senior aides to Netanyahu operated illegally on behalf of Qatar.
“The Shin Bet should investigate this, to the end, without fear. If you have a problem with the law — resign,” Lapid continues.
“Netanyahu doesn’t stop talking about the will of the people. If the will of the people is the important thing, if it is the main thing, let’s go to the people. Let’s ask the people what they really want,” he insists, arguing that the people “deserve a second government of change.”
The Times of Israel Community.