‘No reason to sit with Ben Gvir and Smotrich’: Lapid dismisses Gantz’s call to join government

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid again criticizes National Unity-Blue and White chair Benny Gantz’s suggestion that they — along with Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman — join Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government for the sake of securing a hostage deal.

“There’s no reason to sit in government with [Itamar] Ben Gvir and [Bezalel] Smotritch,” Lapid tells the Kan public broadcaster, reiterating that his Yesh Atid party will offer support to ensure that a hostage deal can pass a vote without joining the coalition.

The opposition leader accuses the government of ignoring the hostage release and ceasefire deal that is reportedly on offer in favor of “dealing with nonsense.”

He tells Kan that the rhetoric from the government about the IDF’s planned operation to capture Gaza City is reminiscent of the promises it made in the run-up to last year’s operation in Rafah, when it insisted that invading the southern Gaza city would create the necessary conditions for the hostages to be released.

“And what happened?” Lapid asks. “The hostages died. Soldiers were killed — and we didn’t return anyone.”