Yair Lapid
Yair LapidYonatan Sindel/Flash90

Following Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's warning of Blue and White's intention of forming a minority government with the support of the Arab Joint List, Blue and White leader MK Yair Lapid called on Netanyahu to dismantle the right-wing bloc and conduct coalition negotiations on behalf of the Likud only.

"Bibi (Netanyahu - ed.), all you have to do is tell [Deputy Health Minister Yaakov] Litzman (UTJ) and [Transportation Minister Bezalel] Smotrich (Jewish Home) that the welfare of Israel comes first, part from them nicely and negotiate directly with Blue and White," Lapid wrote on Twitter.

"As long as you're not willing to do this, all your hysteria is the hypocrisy of a man who is afraid of losing his position."

Smotrich responded: "So Yair Lapid prefers Ahmed Tibi over Litzman and Ofer Cassif over Smotrich. A government with supporters of terrorism and opponents of Zionism over a government with its brothers in the Religious Zionist and haredi public. Tell me who your friends are and it tells me you who you are."

Tibi and Cassif are members of the Joint Arab List, a party whose members have called IDF soldiers "murderers," threatened to try Israel at the International Criminal Court, and criticized IDF soldiers for defending themselves and Israeli civilians from violent Gaza rioters.