Yair Lapid
Yair LapidNoam Moskowitz/Knesset spokesperson

Opposition leader Yair Lapid attacked National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir in the Knesset plenum Monday, accusing him of being unqualified for his position.

"I have a question for the plenum: Where is Ben-Gvir? Six wounded in four shooting incidents in Lod. Where is he? Before the elections we know what would have happened. After five minutes he would be there. Instagram, Tiktok, interviews on all channels, assuring us that such things will not happen with him. He would have taken care of it in a day," Lapid began.

He mentioned that "in Pisgat Ze'ev a girl was hit by a stray shot. A child. Seven and a half years old. She was sitting at home, a shot was fired into her home. I leave it to you to imagine the series of photographs of Ben-Gvir with such a girl before the elections. Now the minister as disappeared. Yesterday in the Eshkol regional council , near Sdei Avraham, a 17-year-old girl was caught on tape being followed by someone suspicious. Security personnel jumped, she escaped at the last minute. We know what Ben-Gvir would have done before the elections after a story like this. His Instagram would have explode. The medical teams are on strike today because of the violence towards them. Time after time, they are attacked again, beaten again. Doctors and nurses who save lives feel that there is no one to protect them."

"This is the harvest of one weekend. What happened to the regular round of interviews? Channel 12, 13, 14, Ynet, Walla ... waving his gun, assuring everyone that after a week he'd have taken care of everything. He would show them. We know exactly what he would say about the Internal Security Minister. So where is Ben-Gvir? Internal security is a serious matter. Dealing with violence is a serious matter. It is a blow against the state. Serious people should be dealing with it. Experts in the use of force, not experts in Instagram and Tiktok. Ben-Gvir made a career out of riding on the fears of the citizens. The fears are justified, but in what world is the solution? In what world is the solution to violence in Israeli society a convicted criminal who has spent his entire career taking selfies, whose only experience in the police field is that he has been arrested countless times?", he wondered.

"Perhaps it would be better for the government to appoint a real minister of internal security, so that Ben-Gvir can turn to the only thing he is good at: photographs and interviews, and then we won't have to ask - where is Ben-Gvir," concluded Lapid.