Lapid says Iran deal taking shape is ‘a disaster,’ as opposition leaders slam Netanyahu for failure to achieve victory over Iran, Hezbollah

Addressing reporters ahead of his Yesh Atid party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid calls the agreement currently shaping up between Washington and Tehran a “disaster,” noting that “the regime did not fall, it grew stronger” and highlighting that the emerging agreement does not deal with the Iranian ballistic missile threat.

“The deal is bad for Israel, bad for the region, bad for the citizens of Iran,” Lapid says.

Lapid and other opposition party leaders also slam Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his failure to achieve victory over Iran and Hezbollah, and insist that Jerusalem must retain its freedom of action regardless of what the United States decides to do.

It is “absurd” that the deal was written without Israel at the table, Lapid charges, declaring that “time and again the Netanyahu government sets goals and fails to meet them.”

“The current situation is the result of a continuous failure of government. Benjamin Netanyahu is a man blessed with talents, but he has grown old and tired and is surrounded by the least suitable people to run a country.”

Lapid says that Israel is a “sovereign country” and not an American protectorate and, as such, the prime minister should tell US President Donald Trump that “we reserve our freedom of action and are not committed to things that go against our security.”

Similarly, Yisrael Beytenu chair Avigdor Liberman tells reporters ahead of his own faction meeting that it is “only a matter of time” before Hezbollah drones hit Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and that Israel “must achieve a decisive victory” against the Iran-backed terror group.

“Our soldiers’ hands are simply tied in Lebanon,” the hawkish former defense minister asserts.

Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz, another former defense minister, likewise argues that Israel must take action against Hezbollah to halt the threat, telling reporters that “the best defense against Hezbollah is an attack. If explosive drones continue to crash in Israel, no plane should take off in Beirut.”

When Israelis in the north celebrate the Shavuot holiday in shelters “buildings should fall in Dahieh,” he adds, referring to a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut.

“I was the first to come out in favor of normalization with Lebanon even when it sounded like a fantasy to people. This will not happen if we allow Hezbollah to become the protector of Lebanon and Tehran to be the patron of Beirut,” he says.

Turning to Iran, Gantz insists that Israel “should end the campaign only after the destruction of [Tehran’s] uranium or its extraction, the cessation of production of long-range ballistic missiles and the cessation of funding for proxies” and that “at the very least, Israel must preserve for itself freedom of action in any agreement.”