Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government faces collapse two years after Hamas attack as opposition leader Yair Lapid offers political support.
Two years since the horrific events of Oct. 7, 2023 when Hamas terrorists attacked Israel and killed 1,200 men, women and children, before they took 251 others into the Gaza Strip, there is still no hostage deal and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is facing possible collapse.
Netanyahu has found an unlikely ally in former Prime Minister and leader of the opposition, Yair Lapid, who extended a „security net“ to the conservative leader this week in a move to secure the government as negotiations with Hamas remain ongoing.
„Nothing is more important than making this deal, bringing our hostages back home“, Lapid said in an interview with Fox News Digital.
The need for Lapid’s political backing comes as right-wing leaders in Netanyahu’s coalition, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have repeatedly criticized Netanyahu’s acceptance of President Donald Trump’s peace plan with Hamas and threatened to leave the coalition at numerous points over the last year.
Netanyahu’s coalition lost its majority in the Israeli parliament in July when two ultra-Orthodox parties left their ministerial posts after an exemption that granted religious students a pass for military conscription expired.
The move left Netanyahu’s coalition in control of just 50 of the 120 seats in the Knesset.
„Now he’s totally dependent on the extreme alt-right within his government that says no to any deal [with Hamas]“, Lapid explained.
When asked how likely he thought it was that special elections would be triggered once parliament returns from its Autumn break on Oct.
