JERUSALEM: Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step down “immediately,” without waiting until the end of the country’s war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
“Netanyahu should leave immediately... We need change, Netanyahu cannot remain prime minister,” Lapid said Wednesday in an interview with Israeli news channel N12.
“We cannot allow ourselves to carry out a long campaign under a prime minister who has lost the people’s trust,” he added.
Four days after Hamas’s surprise October 7 attack on Israel, Netanyahu and another opposition leader, Benny Gantz, announced an agreement to form an “emergency government” for the duration of the war.
Lapid said at the time he would not be joining, accusing Israeli leaders of an “unpardonable failure” for not preventing the attack.
Still, Lapid, who led Israel’s coalition government before Netanyahu was returned to power in elections last year, has not previously called for the prime minister to resign since the fighting broke out, according to Israeli media.
In his interview with N12, Lapid did not call for early elections, but rather a no-confidence vote in parliament that would allow for the formation of a new government led by another member of Netanyahu’s Likud party.
“This is not the time to hold elections,” he said. “We should opt for a national reconstruction with another prime minister from Likud.”
In a statement posted to Telegram, Likud immediately rebuffed the call, saying such a proposal in a “time of war” was “shameful.”
Israeli opposition leader calls on Netanyahu to resign ‘immediately’
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Israeli opposition leader calls on Netanyahu to resign ‘immediately’
- Yair Lapid Lapid did not call for early elections, but a no-confidence vote in parliament to form new government
Spain permanently withdraws ambassador as rift with Israel deepens
- Tensions have heightened since the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, with Sa’ar accusing Spain in early March of “standing with tyrants” for opposing the war
MADRID: Spain permanently withdrew its ambassador to Israel on Tuesday as a diplomatic standoff worsened between the two countries over Spain’s opposition to the US-Israeli attacks on Iran.
The ambassador was summoned back to Spain last September amid a diplomatic row over Spanish measures banning aircraft and ships carrying weapons to Israel from its ports or airspace due to Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, which Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar denounced as antisemitic.
On Tuesday, Spain published an announcement in its official gazette that the ambassador’s position had been terminated. Spain’s Foreign Ministry said its embassy in Tel Aviv will be led by a charge d’affaires for the foreseeable future.
The move marks the latest escalation in diplomatic relations between the two countries, which have been heavily strained since Israel launched its assault on the Gaza Strip in October of 2023.
Israel’s embassy in Spain is also run by a charge d’affaires after the country summoned its ambassador last May in protest at Spain’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state.
Tensions have heightened since the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, with Sa’ar accusing Spain in early March of “standing with tyrants” for opposing the war.
