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FIRST ON FOX: Two years for the reason that horrific occasions of Oct. 7, 2023 when Hamas terrorists attacked Israel and killed 1,200 males, ladies and kids, earlier than they took 251 others into the Gaza Strip, there’s nonetheless no hostage deal and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s authorities is going through attainable collapse.
Netanyahu has discovered an unlikely ally in former Prime Minister and chief of the opposition, Yair Lapid, who prolonged a “safety internet” to the conservative chief this week in a transfer to safe the federal government as negotiations with Hamas stay ongoing.
“Nothing is extra essential than making this deal, bringing our hostages again house,” Lapid mentioned in an interview with Fox Information Digital.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin talks to U.S. President Donald Trump throughout a gathering within the Oval Workplace of the White Home on April 7, 2025 in Washington. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Pictures)
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The necessity for Lapid’s political backing comes as right-wing leaders in Netanyahu’s coalition, Nationwide Safety Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have repeatedly criticized Netanyahu’s acceptance of President Donald Trump’s peace plan with Hamas and threatened to depart the coalition at quite a few factors over the past yr.
Netanyahu’s coalition misplaced its majority within the Israeli parliament in July when two ultra-Orthodox parties left their ministerial posts after an exemption that granted spiritual college students a go for navy conscription expired.
The transfer left Netanyahu’s coalition in command of simply 50 of the 120 seats within the Knesset.
“Now he is completely depending on the intense alt-right inside his authorities that claims no to any deal [with Hamas],” Lapid defined.
When requested how seemingly he thought it was that particular elections could be triggered as soon as parliament returns from its Autumn break on Oct. 19, Lapid mentioned, “very seemingly.”
A particular election is unlikely to occur ahead of February or March 2026, Lapid defined, pointing to a delegated time-frame that permits for campaigning in Israel, ought to the Knesset set off an early election cycle by November – simply seven months ahead of the beforehand scheduled October 2026 elections.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid addresses the media exterior a polling station in Israel’s coastal metropolis of Tel Aviv after casting his vote within the nation’s fifth election in 4 years on Nov. 1, 2022. (Jack Guez/AFP through Getty Pictures))
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Lapid believes the Israeli public will favor a extra centrist authorities that will embody each the appropriate and left, a transfer that will nonetheless prioritize Israeli safety, but additionally guarantee there’s an finish to the struggle in Gaza and repairs are made to Jerusalem’s international standing.
“If there’s one factor I am sorry about, [it] is the truth that no person within the authorities has the political braveness to face up and say…this can be a simply struggle, we’re doing what must be executed with the intention to defend ourselves, however we’re sorry for each baby that loses his life,” Lapid mentioned. “Youngsters shouldn’t die in grownups’ wars.”
“As Jews, as human beings, as individuals who imagine in Judeo-Christian traditions and morality, it is heartbreaking,” he added.
Lapid mentioned this failure of the present authorities not solely led to ambiguity when it got here to Israel’s technique in countering Hamas, it fueled what he mentioned is media bias and false reporting, and it price Israel dearly when it comes to international support, even amongst “teams that historically supported Israel.”
The opposition chief described a gathering he had with Netanyahu on Oct. 7, 2023, wherein he mentioned the prime minister appeared “grey and drained and outdated abruptly.”
Protestors maintain photographs of hostages as they march throughout a rally calling for the Israeli authorities to signal a deal to launch the hostages held within the Gaza Strip, on Aug. 26, 2025 in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Amir Levy/Getty Pictures)
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“I mentioned one thing at that assembly that in a while turned a cliché – I mentioned, “Prime Minister, that is the worst day for the Jewish individuals for the reason that Holocaust.
“What we have to do, is kind a unity authorities,” he mentioned. “It’s important to do away with the extremists in your authorities, and we will create a unity of presidency as a result of we now have reverse us, a problem that’s unparalleled to something you, or I, have ever seen.”
Lapid mentioned Netanyahu was “reluctant” to pursue this route.
“Till today, I am sorry about this. I believed it was the appropriate factor to do, and I nonetheless assume it was the appropriate factor to do,” he added.
Netanyahu has spent 15 years as Israel’s prime minister, first serving from March 2009 to June 2021, earlier than retaking the highest job in December 2022.
Lapid described his prolonged tenure as “admirable” and emblematic of his “resilience.”
“However in different methods, I can see now, to say politely, the advantages of the two-term limits that you’ve got in the USA,” he added.
Households of hostages protest, demanding the discharge from Hamas captivity within the Gaza Strip, on the plaza often called the hostages sq. in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025. (AP Photograph/Ariel Schalit)
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The opposition chief mentioned he thinks Israelis are prepared for a “unity authorities” in response to Netanyahu’s hard-right coalition, noting that he thinks the upcoming elections can be “fascinating.”
“It will cross political strains, and it’ll be primarily based on hope,” he added in reference to the bloc he’s constructing. “I do know it seems like massive phrases, however I am telling you, it’s what we want proper now.
“It has been the toughest two years of all people’s lifetime. And the primary time in an extended, very long time, the fragility of the Israeli society was tangible to us. And we have to rebuild,” Lapid added.
Netanyahu’s workplace didn’t reply to Fox Information Digital’s questions by the point this report was printed.
