Israeli opposition leader slams Netanyahu’s ‘sick government,’ warns Arab joint force bid threatens peace accords

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid on Sunday launched a blistering attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, calling it a “sick government” that is dismantling Israel’s global position and pushing the country toward isolation.

In a series of posts on US social media company X, Lapid accused the cabinet of “whining” while 142 countries voted against Israel at the United Nations, and hostages remain trapped underground in Gaza tunnels.

“This is a sick government,” he wrote.

He further charged that the government was “destroying every possible field in the country, international relations, economy, culture, sports,” warning that Israel was being dragged into becoming “a weakened, corrupt and isolated third world state.”

Addressing recent reports of an Egyptian initiative to form a joint Arab military force in response to Israeli attacks, Lapid said such a move would mark “a severe blow to the peace agreements, coming immediately after the severe blow to the Abraham Accords, and following the overwhelming UN vote for Palestinian statehood.”

“This government has destroyed our international standing. A deadly combination of irresponsibility, amateurism and arrogance is dismantling us in the world,” he said, adding that Netanyahu must be replaced “before it is too late.”

Arab and Islamic foreign ministers began a closed-door meeting in Doha on Sunday to prepare for the emergency summit, which will bring together heads of state on Monday. The gathering is also expected to see the activation of a long-proposed joint Arab military force, an initiative first advanced by Egypt nearly a decade ago.

The meeting comes after Tuesday’s Israeli airstrike on a residential compound in Doha that killed five Hamas members as the group was discussing a US proposal to end the war in Gaza, where nearly 65,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023.