‘You were completely wrong’: Netanyahu and Lapid spar in stormy Knesset debate

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid went head-to-head in a stormy Knesset debate on Monday, in which the rival politicians argued over a range of issues, including relations with the US, responsibility for the October 7, 2023, attack, and the coalition’s bill regulating Haredi conscription and exemptions.

The session was a so-called 40-signature debate, which the opposition can compel the prime minister to attend once a month by collecting the requisite number of signatures from MKs. This debate was initiated by Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party and was titled “The extremist government acting contrary to the Zionist majority and harming national cohesion and the core values of the State of Israel.”

But the central speeches in the debate came from Netanyahu, who chairs the Likud party, and Lapid, who heads the centrist Yesh Atid. The two men’s remarks, taking aim at one another, came as politicians are gearing up for elections due to take place by late October.

Netanyahu touted his close relationship with US President Donald Trump, repeated his vow to stymie the Iranian nuclear program, and defended some of his government’s controversial endeavors, such as the Haredi draft exemption bill and a politically-appointed commission to investigate the October 7 attack.

He also blasted the opposition for its criticism of his foreign policy, saying, “You were completely wrong, the whole way through, in understanding the diplomatic reality.”

Lapid took the prime minister to task over the October 7 attack, negative net migration from Israel, recent inflammatory statements by Netanyahu’s coalition members, and the draft bill, which Lapid said would “promote evasion.”

He also claimed that the government he co-led with former prime minister Naftali Bennett from mid-2021 through 2022 ran the country better than Netanyahu. He asked voters, “Are you better or worse off than you were three years ago?”

Netanyahu spoke at length about his recent trip to Florida to meet with Trump last week. He said his close personal relationship with Trump, and the deep ties between the two countries, are “a recipe for the continuation of our series of achievements in 2026 as well.”

He said that Israel and the US “agree on the big things,” and allowed that there “are different approaches over certain points.” But he said the two sides work out the differences, at times like a family.

He said that he and Trump dealt extensively with attempts to bring back the body of the last hostage held in Gaza, Master Sgt. Ran Gvili.

He added that he and Trump would “not allow Iran to rebuild its ballistic missile industry, and we certainly won’t let it renew its nuclear program.”

His comments came against the backdrop of ongoing mass protests in Iran that have threatened the stability of the regime in Tehran. Netanyahu voiced support for the protests.

“We in Israel identify with the struggle of the Iranian people,” he said, “and its aspirations for freedom and justice.” He added that Iran might have reached “a decisive moment, in which the Iranian people take their futures into their hands.”

He also praised the recent US capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, who faces narcotics and terrorism charges in the US.

“Israel supports the determined decision by the [US] president, and the bold action by the US army in Venezuela,” he said. “There is a global struggle between countries that represent freedom and progress, and violent countries that threaten the world order.” He put Israel in the former group.

Netanyahu added that the government is seeking “broad consensus” on the military draft for Haredim, in its efforts to pass a law formalizing sweeping conscription exemptions for yeshiva students.

“We are advancing a historic proposal,” he said, “which will draft 23,000 in the next 3.5 years.” He argued that “It will greatly lighten the burden on reservists.”

He said that the government bill includes personal and institutional sanctions against draft dodgers. Netanyahu claimed that under Lapid’s government, fewer ultra-Orthodox men would have been drafted.

“You don’t even want to draft Haredim,” the premier charged.

Critics of the government’s bill say it will enshrine an unequal system and will draft too few Haredim at a time when the IDF says it urgently needs additional recruits.

Netanyahu also accused the opposition of standing in the way of a politically-appointed commission of inquiry into the failures surrounding the October 7 attack. He claimed that the commission, advanced by his government, enjoys broad consensus.

Netanyahu opposes the formation of a state commission of inquiry, Israel’s highest investigative authority, which opinion polls consistently show is the public’s preferred option. The premier, who publicly backed state commissions of inquiry until 2022, now contends that such a panel would be biased against him since its members would be tapped by Supreme Court President Isaac Amit, whom the current government views as adversarial.

Speaking at the plenum, the prime minister claimed that the members of such a state commission would be chosen by only one side of the political spectrum, and that supporters of his government would not accept its legitimacy.

Netanyahu noted that in his proposal, half of the commission members are chosen by the government, and half by the opposition. The commission members will have the power to “ask what they want, and to bring whoever they want [for questioning],” he said.

Critics have argued that such a commission will be highly politicized since all its members will have been selected by politicians who want to avoid being found responsible for the failures.

Following Netanyahu’s speech, Lapid excoriated the prime minister for the Haredi draft exemption bill.

“You stand here after 1,200 deaths and say you want to promote evasion to protect the world of Torah?” Lapid said, referring to the October 7 attack’s death toll. “How dare you?”

The opposition leader added that “bereaved families sit and collapse” watching the government’s attempts to pass the bill, especially in the wake of comments by United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf comparing sanctions on draft evaders to the yellow star that the Nazis forced Jews to wear during the Holocaust.

Lapid also condemned Netanyahu for not speaking out about far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s threat to “trample” Supreme Court President Isaac Amit.

“Your finance minister said that the Supreme Court president should be ‘trampled,’” Lapid said. “How come we haven’t heard a single word of condemnation from you?”

On the Qatargate scandal — in which aides to Netanyahu are accused of acting as paid lobbyists for Qatar while in the prime minister’s employ, despite the Gulf state’s strong ties to Hamas — Lapid asks why Netanyahu hasn’t fired those allegedly involved. Senior aide Jonathan Urich, one of the suspects, is still employed by Netanyahu’s office.

“There is not a single Israeli citizen who understands how you don’t say: ‘Anyone who received money from Qatar betrayed Israel and me, and he will never enter my office again,’” Lapid said.

“We’ve heard your story 70 times already about how you changed the Middle East. I ask you, how did you change the lives of the citizens of Israel?” continued the lawmaker. “We know the answer, and so do you. We ran this country much better than you — more quietly, with many fewer dead and wounded, and much more efficiently.”

Gantz, who spoke earlier in the session, also called on Netanyahu to give an explanation regarding the Qatargate scandal.

“Netanyahu, look me in the eye. You and I know that Feldstein was your employee. He was close to you throughout the war. He was with us in the bunker. He was next to us in the aquarium at the Prime Minister’s Office,” said Gantz, referring to former Netanyahu spokesperson Eli Feldstein, one of the suspects in the scandal.

Gantz’s then-National Unity party joined Netanyahu’s government days after October 7, 2023, to form an emergency unity government. It left the government in June 2024 after claiming that it was being sidelined from wartime decision-making, as well as over other disagreements.

“I suggest you look the people of Israel straight in the eye and finally explain how a person who received money from Qatar sat next to you at the most critical moments for Israel’s security,” he continued.

“If you didn’t know, fire everyone who had a hand in this,” Gantz adds. “And if you did know, it’s more serious than any of the cases currently being conducted against you in the courts.”

The premier is currently on trial for corruption. He is seeking a pardon from President Isaac Herzog.