Israeli opposition figures and current and former officials launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday evening after he announced he would not proceed with an attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Former Israeli defence minister and leader of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, Avigdor Lieberman, criticised Netanyahu, saying: “This is not a prime minister, he is a puppet.”
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid also strongly criticised Netanyahu after he backed down from attacking the southern suburbs under pressure from US President Donald Trump.
Lapid said Israel had become “a state under full guardianship”.
He accused the government of overseeing what he described as the biggest security crisis in Israel’s history, pointing to the rising number of casualties from armed attacks and the continuation of the country’s longest war without achieving what Netanyahu had previously called a “decisive victory” in Gaza, Lebanon or Iran.
Lapid said the government was also responsible for what he described as Israel’s declining international standing, as well as rising levels of violent crime and Jewish extremism. He said its record amounted to an unprecedented series of failures.
Former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett also said the government had lost control over Israeli sovereignty.
