Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was a “whiner and coward” for holding a two-hour discussion in this week’s government meeting on Sunday regarding what he claimed of incitement against him and his family, Opposition Leader MK Yair Lapid said in a press conference ahead of his party’s weekly meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem on Monday.
Lapid read aloud emails he claims he received recently that included curses, death wishes, and more, and said that these were “a terrible and sad part of the world in which we live.” While he condemned “all expressions of incitement,” Lapid argued that, unlike Netanyahu, he never held a government discussion on his own security, and that there were far more important issues for the government to spend two hours discussing.
“Netanyahu is a whining, bad, and failing prime minister, who deals only with himself and his private issues, and he must go home,” Lapid concluded.
The Likud said in a statement later on Monday, “Lapid and his friends refuse to condemn incitement and call to murder the prime minister and his family. Lapid’s silence normalizes violence, and brings nearer the next political assassination.”
Yesh Atid responded soon after: “It’s time to stop lying. Lapid condemned the incitement against Netanyahu facing the cameras today at the party meeting. He just noted the obvious: Every soldier in Gaza is in more danger than Netanyahu; every soldier in Jenin is in greater danger than him, and every kidnapped soldier is more worthy of a discussion in the government on what she is experiencing. Only a cowardly and whining leader like Netanyahu talks about himself before talking about them.”
Democrats chairman Yair Golan said in a statement to the media earlier on Monday that since the Knesset on July 28 will officially recess for nearly three months, the struggle to topple the government must move from the Knesset to the streets.
Democrats is the new name for the merged left-wing parties Labor and Meretz.
“The salvation and recovery will not come from the Knesset – it will come from the people,” Golan said.
“Every Israeli citizen understands that a hostage deal will dismantle Netanyahu’s government. He prefers [far-right ministers Itamar] Ben-Gvir and [Bezalel] Smotrich to them [the hostages],” Golan said. “This is the time for solidarity in the streets. If we do not hit the streets with force, together and now, the abandonment of our brothers and sisters will continue,” Golan said.
Golan, along with Democrat MKs Gilad Kariv and Na'ama Lazimi, have been active in protests against the government and in favor of a hostage deal. In an interview at a conference hosted by the economic newspaper Calcalist earlier on Monday, Golan said that there were three methods to pressure the government – protests, strikes, and “civil disobedience.”
Golan stresses non-violent protests
Golan stressed that the protests should "never become violent."
In other opposition news on Monday, the Yesh Atid party put forward a bill to disperse the Knesset, which would send the country to an election. The bill is scheduled to come up for a preliminary vote in the Knesset plenum on Wednesday.
However, according to Knesset protocol, if the bill fails, the opposition will not be able to bring it up for another six months – and without a majority, Yesh Atid is likely to retract it.
In addition, Yisrael Beytenu chairman MK Avigdor Liberman claimed in a conference on Monday that Netanyahu was planning on dispersing the Knesset in November, both because he did not want to be associated with the 2025 budget, which is expected to include deep cuts in many areas due to war expenditures, and because the prime minister is scheduled to begin giving testimony in his criminal trials towards the end of the year. Liberman claimed that the Finance Ministry has yet to begin serious work on the 2025 budget and that this proved his claim.
Finance Minister Smotrich denied the claim. In a response to a query by The Jerusalem Post, Smotrich acknowledged that the 2025 budget would be a “difficult” one, but that he would act to pass a “responsible budget,” which he claimed he did in 2023 and 2024 as well.