Israeli opposition leader Lapid rallies behind Iran operation, after months of criticizing Netanyahu

Israeli Opposition Leader Yair Lapid meets with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of N.Y., Tuesday, April 9, 2024, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, file)

TEL AVIV, Israel — Roughly 24 hours before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a blistering assault on Iran, Israel’s opposition was scheming to bring down his government.

Now, just days into the ongoing operation against Iran, the opposition has closed ranks behind the effort, suspending months of bitter criticism against Netanyahu and his handling of the war in Gaza.

It’s a sharp about-face for a constellation of parties that have criticized Netanyahu throughout the war for what they have charged is his politically motivated decision-making.

“It’s not the right moment to do politics,” opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yair Lapid told The Associated Press on Monday in his first international media interview since the start of the operation against Iran.

The latest conflict began when Israel launched an assault on Iran’s top military leaders, uranium enrichment sites and nuclear scientists that it said was necessary to prevent its longtime adversary from getting any closer to building an atomic weapon — which Israel says would pose an existential threat. Iran maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful.

Lapid spoke just days after he called from the dais of the Israeli parliament for an election to oust Netanyahu. The opposition’s attempt to dissolve parliament narrowly failed. Lapid said the circumstances have now changed.

“Yes, this government needs to be toppled, but not in the midst of an existential fight,” Lapid said.

And that fight has become personal. His son’s home was damaged in an Iranian strike, although no one was there at the time except for house pets.

Israeli politicians across the spectrum typically fall in line behind government actions during times of war or crisis. But the deep polarization in the country, much of it fueled by the public’s view of Netanyahu, and the loud protests against his rule that preceded the war in Gaza and continued through it make the opposition’s change of tack all the more striking.

The past 20 months have also been an unprecedented time in Israeli history, with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 — the deadliest the country has ever faced — sparking the war in Gaza. And then a war against the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon and now a major escalation with Iran.

Netanyahu, a divisive leader who has governed nearly uninterrupted for 16 years, has been at the helm throughout that period. On trial for alleged corruption and reliant on far-right parties to maintain his power, he has stoked accusations that he’s prolonging the war in Gaza to appease his governing partners and delay an election that could put an end to his rule.

While Netanyahu says he’s acting in Israel’s best interest, opposition parties, including Lapid’s Yesh Atid, have hit hard at that idea. But after Israel began its operation against Iran, he and other opposition party leaders lent their support, emphasizing that they were backing the military.

“We didn’t rally behind the government,” Lapid said from his party office in Tel Aviv. “We rallied behind the necessity to operate on the moment that was inevitable.”

Lapid, a former television anchorman and one-time boxer, entered politics in 2013. He became caretaker prime minister briefly in 2022, as part of a deal with another party. He didn’t succeed in forming a coalition in an election held shortly after, which returned Netanyahu to power in a government made up of far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties.

Throughout most of the war, Lapid and other opposition lawmakers have pushed Netanyahu to make a deal with Hamas to free hostages held in Gaza.

Lapid made a speech last month to Israel’s parliament, which is called the Knesset, that marked 600 days since the start of the war in Gaza. Lapid slammed Netanyahu for bringing a conflict upon Israel that didn’t exist during his own brief time in office.

Netanyahu, whose own political fortunes have mostly dimmed throughout the Middle East conflict, has enjoyed brief bumps in public support on the tail of military successes, like a round of fighting with Hezbollah last year. He could gain the same boost, if public opinion rallies behind the Iran operation.

Polls before the campaign showed that Netanyahu would struggle to form a coalition if an election were held today. Lapid’s party, now the second largest with 24 seats in the 120-seat parliament, could lose half or more of its support, polls show.

But Lapid said that the politics, and Netanyahu’s motivations, were irrelevant now, because striking Iran was “the right thing to do.”

“Benjamin Netanyahu is a bitter political rival,” said Lapid. “I think he’s the wrong person to lead the country. But on that, he was right.”

By Tia Goldenberg.