Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid responded on Monday to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks about wanting a broad national government and rejected the possibility of cooperation between the two.
At the start of the Yesh Atid faction meeting, Lapid said, "What are you talking about? You will not form any more governments in Israel. There will be elections, and you will lose."
Lapid made the comments shortly after meeting with Netanyahu for a security update as part of his position as opposition leader. The meeting, the first of which in two and a half months, lasted 45 minutes, and was also attended by the Prime Minister's new Military Secretary, Maj. Gen. Guy Markizeno.
Lapid added that his party would not join a government led by Netanyahu, "I will not sit with you. Clear enough? The one who was Prime Minister on October 7th and did not take responsibility, the one who normalized Kahanism, the one who laundered corruption, sanctified draft evasion, and above all, the one who made a career out of hatred and incitement - I will not sit with him, period." He further stated, "You have to pay for disasters, you have to pay for dysfunction, Netanyahu will lose, and the State of Israel will be saved. We will form a good, professional, and fair government. We will make a new deal with the state. We will fix everything that was ruined."
Asked about Benny Gantz's and Dedi Simhi's parties, Lapid referred to them as "Netanyahu's satellite parties," and claimed that they are designed to assist him in the elections. According to Lapid, "These aren't two parties, but rather two satellites that will try to hand victory to Netanyahu in the election, which he would anyway lose."
The Blue and White party responded to Lapid, stating that "anyone who, on October 7th, as his brothers bled in the south, chose to make political considerations and count Knesset seats instead of joining an emergency government, anyone who encouraged service refusal and division, has no place in public life anymore." The party further stated that it intends to form the "People of Israel Bloc," which will lead to the creation of a Zionist unity government that will contend with the challenges facing Israel from within and out.