Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Opposition Leader MK Yair Lapid traded barbs on the Knesset floor during a special session initiated by the opposition on Monday afternoon.

The session was a special type of debate that required the signatures of at least 40 Knesset members, as well as the presence of both the prime minister and the leader of the opposition.
The debate included short speeches by MKs from both the coalition and the opposition, followed by a concluding speech by the prime minister and a rebuttal by the leader of the opposition.
In his speech, Netanyahu “promised three things.”
“First, we will not end the war until we return all of our hostages – 120 hostages, the living and the deceased. We are committed to the Israeli proposal, which President Biden has welcomed. Our position has not changed.

A supporter of the families of hostages who are being held in the Gaza Strip after they were seized by Hamas gunmen on October 7 prepares missing signs posters depicting hostages, in Tel Aviv, Israel November 21, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/AMIR COHEN)
A supporter of the families of hostages who are being held in the Gaza Strip after they were seized by Hamas gunmen on October 7 prepares missing signs posters depicting hostages, in Tel Aviv, Israel November 21, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/AMIR COHEN)

“Second, which does not contradict the first, we will not end the war until we eliminate Hamas and until we return the residents of the South and the North securely to their homes.
“And third, at any price and in any way, we will thwart Iran’s intentions to destroy us,” Netanyahu said.
The prime minister also criticized those who were “drilling a hole in the state’s boat during wartime.”

While soldiers are risking their lives, some try to weaken their spirit

“While our soldiers are risking their lives for all of our security, there are those who are trying to weaken their spirit.

They say, morning and evening, that the IDF cannot win. They curse, incite, and issue blasphemy, [and] normalize violence,” Netanyahu said, adding that “most of the people rejected this extremism.”

Lapid responded by saying that nothing would remain of Netanyahu’s legacy other than the failure of October 7.
Lapid criticized what he said were all of Netanyahu’s “attempts to pass on blame, to place responsibility on those under you; all of the slander against the IDF and the Shin Bet,” and laid the case that the prime minister himself bore the utmost responsibility for the massacre.
The leader of the opposition went on to criticize Netanyahu’s treatment of the Iranian nuclear threat, the state of the economy, the high cost of living and rising prices, and the fact that the prime minister found time for politics but not for these other urgent issues.
The exchange came after the ongoing State Commission of Inquiry on what is known as the “Submarine Affair” issued warning letters to five individuals, including Netanyahu.
The letters claimed that the prime minister had likely caused serious harm to Israel’s national security. Lapid and some other MKs condemned the prime minister and repeated calls for him to resign.