WASHINGTON
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said Tuesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s disagreements with the US harm Israel’s national security.
“Netanyahu’s public quarrel with the administration in the USA is an injury to the security of the state, an injury to Israel’s foreign relations and a lack of national responsibility,” Lapid said on X.
Despite US expressions of support for Israel in its fight against the Palestinian group Hamas, Netanyahu and the Biden administration are at odds on several issues, including the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Rafah offensive, settlements in the occupied West Bank and the amount of aid being allowed into the Gaza Strip.
“Don’t understand what is burning him to open another front,” Lapid said, referring to Netanyahu’s signal to escalate military action against Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.
Israel launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip following an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, killing nearly 30,000 people and causing mass destruction and shortages of necessities, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed.
The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
