TEL AVIV — Israel’s opposition leaders on Wednesday assailed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for agreeing to a ceasefire with Iran, accusing him of failing to achieve the objectives of the war. “There has never been such a diplomatic disaster in all our history,” the country’s main opposition leader Yair Lapid wrote on X. “Israel wasn’t even at the table when decisions were made concerning the core of our national security.” Lapid said while “the military carried out everything it was asked to do [and] the public showed remarkable resilience,” Netanyahu “failed diplomatically, failed strategically and did not meet any of the goals he himself set.” The United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire in an 11th-hour bid to avert all-out destruction of Iran threatened by Trump. Netanyahu’s office said Israel supported Trump’s decision to suspend the bombing of Iran, but maintained the ceasefire “does not include Lebanon” where Israeli forces are fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah. Netanyahu had set the elimination or at least severe degradation of Iran’s nuclear program as a central goal of the war, describing it as an “existential threat” to Israel. He also called for the neutralising of Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities, the weakening or potentially toppling of the Iranian regime and the curbing of Tehran’s regional influence by targeting its network of allied groups. “It will take us years to repair the political and strategic damage that Netanyahu caused due to arrogance, negligence, and lack of strategic planning,” Lapid said. The head of the left-wing Democrats party, Yair Golan, called the ceasefire a “strategic failure” by Netanyahu.“He promised a historic victory and security for generations, and in practice, we got one of the most severe strategic failures Israel has ever known,” Golan said on X. “It’s a total failure that endangers Israel’s security for years to come.”Member of parliament and opposition figure Avigdor Liberman also denounced the truce, saying it gave the Iranian regime “an opportunity to regroup.” “Any agreement with Iran that does not include renouncing the destruction of Israel, uranium enrichment, the production of ballistic missiles, and support for terrorist organizations in the region means that we will have to return to another campaign under more difficult conditions and pay a heavier price,” Liberman said on X. More reaction was expected to come later on Wednesday after the end of the Jewish holiday of Passover. — AgenciesTEL AVIV — Israel’s opposition leaders on Wednesday assailed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for agreeing to a ceasefire with Iran, accusing him of failing to achieve the objectives of the war. “There has never been such a diplomatic disaster in all our history,” the country’s main opposition leader Yair Lapid wrote on X. “Israel wasn’t even at the table when decisions were made concerning the core of our national security.” Lapid said while “the military carried out everything it was asked to do [and] the public showed remarkable resilience,” Netanyahu “failed diplomatically, failed strategically and did not meet any of the goals he himself set.” The United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire in an 11th-hour bid to avert all-out destruction of Iran threatened by Trump. Netanyahu’s office said Israel supported Trump’s decision to suspend the bombing of Iran, but maintained the ceasefire “does not include Lebanon” where Israeli forces are fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah. Netanyahu had set the elimination or at least severe degradation of Iran’s nuclear program as a central goal of the war, describing it as an “existential threat” to Israel. He also called for the neutralising of Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities, the weakening or potentially toppling of the Iranian regime and the curbing of Tehran’s regional influence by targeting its network of allied groups. “It will take us years to repair the political and strategic damage that Netanyahu caused due to arrogance, negligence, and lack of strategic planning,” Lapid said. The head of the left-wing Democrats party, Yair Golan, called the ceasefire a “strategic failure” by Netanyahu.“He promised a historic victory and security for generations, and in practice, we got one of the most severe strategic failures Israel has ever known,” Golan said on X. “It’s a total failure that endangers Israel’s security for years to come.”Member of parliament and opposition figure Avigdor Liberman also denounced the truce, saying it gave the Iranian regime “an opportunity to regroup.” “Any agreement with Iran that does not include renouncing the destruction of Israel, uranium enrichment, the production of ballistic missiles, and support for terrorist organizations in the region means that we will have to return to another campaign under more difficult conditions and pay a heavier price,” Liberman said on X. More reaction was expected to come later on Wednesday after the end of the Jewish holiday of Passover. — Agencies
