Opposition leader Yair Lapid spoke Tuesday morning with ynet amid his escalating tensions with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which only a day earlier saw the two trading barbs on social media and fiery speeches from the Knesset podium.
“The difference is that in my case, no one received money secretly from the Qataris during a war. In my office, there were no enemy agents on the payroll of a Muslim state that supports terrorism,” Lapid said when asked about the difference between himself and the prime minister.
His remarks came in light of a meeting he held, together with families of hostages, with senior Qatari officials, facilitated by lobbyist Jay Footlik, who is involved in the so-called Qatargate affair, in which several of Netanyahu's close associates are accused of pushing the agenda of the Qatari government for pay.
Lapid went on to address the meeting with Qatari representatives: “I took families of hostages to one meeting with the Qataris so they could look them in the eye and say, ‘Bring our children home.’ The person who turned the Qataris into mediators on the hostage issue was Netanyahu. At the time, we didn’t understand it, and to this day, I don’t understand why he did not prefer the Egyptian track. But that’s another question, or maybe not another question. It’s a big difference.”
Netanyahu and Lapid clashed Tuesday in a series of posts on X after the prime minister published a claim that the opposition leader and Blue and White party Chairman Benny Gantz had met in January last year with senior Qatari officials, through the mediation of lobbyist Footlik. Netanyahu later removed any mention of Gantz from the post, and the Blue and White party denied that its chairman took part in such a meeting.
Lapid jabbed at the prime minister, saying: “Mr. Netanyahu, why did you delete that post?” Netanyahu replied: “The post is still up. Charge your phone.” Lapid responded: “I charged the phone and still haven’t found the explanation for why your advisers received money from a state that supports terrorism during a war.”
Later in the interview, Lapid addressed moving to Phase II of U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza and made clear that he has “no problem” with the Palestinian Authority taking part in managing Gaza on the civilian level.
“[Government hardliners Bezalel] Smotrich and [Itamar] Ben-Gvir, as usual, threatened to immediately leave the government if the Palestinian Authority had a role in managing Gaza, and then folded like the usual origami and did nothing about it," he said.
"This government works with the Palestinian Authority morning, noon and night. Smotrich transfers them money every month, and security cooperation with the Palestinian Authority is full-scale. I have no problem with the authority handling civilian matters. They said it would never happen, but you can go to the Rafah crossing, there is the Palestinian Authority.”
Lapid, who met Monday with Netanyahu for a security briefing, also addressed tensions surrounding Iran. “In April, already in the first attack, I said Israel needed to strike differently. It needed to strike not only what we struck, but also infrastructure. All of Iran’s oil infrastructure, for example, is on Kharg Island, and we can destroy it in six hours and dismantle the Iranian economy. The Americans thought at the time that if the regime fell, the next regime should be given a chance to start an economy from somewhere. I think that’s a mistake,” he said.
Describing the atmosphere at the meeting with Netanyahu, Lapid said: “When Israel’s security is on the table, we know how to make the separation. It’s a security briefing, not a political briefing. We are experienced enough to put everything else aside.”
Asked about the political system and whether a merger between his Yesh Atid party and The Democrats, led by former IDF deputy chief of staff Yair Golan, was a possibility, Lapid said: “I respect the left. I assume it has an ideology, and when there is no ideological alignment, there is no union. They are left and we are center. Those are two different things.”
Referring to his refusal to respond to a proposal by Yashar party chairman Gadi Eisenkot to unite forces, Lapid said: “I handle things like that behind closed doors. I have one goal, and we will stand by it, and that is to win the elections. We will do what needs to be done, which usually means quietly and at the right moment.
“Even in the weaker polls, we already have 58 or 59 seats today. I have faced far more complicated missions in my life than telling Yesh Atid activists, ‘Let’s go out and storm the ground to bring in another three or four seats.’ We will have 62 or 63 Zionist seats and we will form a government that will save the State of Israel.”