Netanyahu skips cabinet vote on Lebanon truce, ministers react with fury

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened an urgent phone meeting with his security cabinet on Thursday to inform members of a forthcoming ceasefire in Lebanon, but did not put the decision to a vote, according to local media reports. The brief call, which lasted only minutes, was intended to notify ministers of the US-brokered pause in hostilities rather than seek their approval. Netanyahu reportedly confirmed that the halt in fighting would begin at midnight local time at the request of US President Donald Trump, with Israeli troops maintaining their current positions.

Ministerial backlash and opposition criticism

The Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper described cabinet members as “furious” over being kept in the dark before Trump’s public announcement. Israel’s public broadcaster KAN added that Netanyahu lacked time to present detailed terms of the Lebanon ceasefire to his own ministers. Opposition leader Yair Lapid quickly condemned the move, writing on social media platform X: “This is not the first time this government’s promises collapse in reality.” Avigdor Lieberman, head of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, went further, calling the ceasefire “a betrayal of the residents of northern Israel.”