Opposition leader Yair Lapid, running in the upcoming election alongside Naftali Bennett, finished a security briefing with Prime Minister Netanyahu following the PM's unusual midday statement that there are indications Israel's enemies are planning to attack before the election.
Reading between the lines, Lapid did not deny that a significant threat exists in the run-up to the vote, but focused his response on the claim that such a warning should not come from Netanyahu himself.
Lapid's statement after the briefing:
"I will not break the confidentiality of the security briefing, but this needs to be said: security threats are something that must be handled professionally and responsibly. Israel's security and IDF bases are not props for campaign videos.
Updates on threats need to come from the professionals, from the IDF, from the Shin Bet, not from the Twitter account of a politician who is in the middle of an election campaign.
Before October 7, Netanyahu ignored every warning. Twenty-eight days before the election, suddenly he's busy with scare tactics.
Without going into details, the IDF, Shin Bet and police are prepared for the election, and there is no reason to send the public into a panic.
Six months ago the Chief of Staff said he was 'raising 10 red flags' about a shortage of soldiers and erosion in the IDF. If Netanyahu is so worried about the security situation, let him draft the 15,000 chareidi men missing from the IDF.
In any case, the election will be held on schedule, and no one has an excuse to disrupt it.
I demanded from the Prime Minister a four-way meeting, with the head of the Shin Bet, who by law is responsible for protecting democracy, and with the chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Judge Noam Solberg, to ensure that everyone is updated and coordinated ahead of the election."
