‘For 5 days, Israel has been waiting to be bombed’: Oppn leader Lapid slams govt for handling of Iranian threat

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid on Monday slammed the Israel’s leadership over its handling of the Iranian threat, asking if it was acceptable to Benjamin Netanyahu government that for five days, an entire country has been sitting and waiting to be bombed.

According to a Times of Israel report, while addressing his Yesh Atid party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, Lapid said, “I would like to ask the Israeli government, is what we are seeing in recent days the new standard?”

“Is it acceptable to you that for five days, an entire country has been sitting and waiting to be bombed?” he asked.

He also accused the government of “not even pretending” to try to return the evacuated residents of the north to their towns.

“Is this the new standard that the residents of the north will not receive even a hint from the government as to when they can go home?” he asked.

He added, “The new standard is that young parents don’t go to a public park because it’s far from a shelter. Foreign airlines don’t want to fly here, because there’s no one to trust here. Everyone waits and waits and doesn’t know what they’re waiting for.”

Israel is currently bracing itself for Iran’s response to the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week, an act for which Jerusalem has not taken public responsibility.

According to Axios, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told counterparts from G7 countries on Sunday that Washington believes an Iranian attack on Israel could begin within the next 24 to 48 hours.

“This government will fall when the Knesset returns from the most unnecessary and wretched recess in the country’s history,” Lapid said, promising to establish “an effective, functioning, decent government, which will bring order to the country and order to our lives.”

With inputs from agencies