Lapid promises 'safety net' for hostage deal votes

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid promised Prime Minister Netanyahu political support for a potential hostage deal, emphasizing the importance of bringing hostages back home as a moral imperative.

Yair Lapid
Yair LapidTPS

Opposition leader Yair Lapid promised Prime Minister Netanyahu a 'safety net' vote to support a hostage deal if coalition parties did not vote in favor.

At the Yesh Atid party meeting, Lapid said: "I want to reiterate to Netanyahu from here: he doesn't need Ben-Gvir and Smotrich. I offered him a political safety net for a hostages deal. This offer is still valid, more than ever. If Netanyahu can and wants to make a deal, he and I will know how to finalize the details of the safety net in half an hour."

He added, "I am not saying this lightly. It is no secret that I think Netanyahu is a failed, dangerous and irresponsible leader, and he is unfit to lead the State of Israel. But what I think of him is of far less importance than the return of the hostages."

"Unlike him, and unlike his partners, Netanyahu knows that our word can be trusted. All we ask of him in return for the safety net is to do the right, the moral, the necessary thing: to bring the hostages home, to make the deal, now."