Photo: Flash 90
Likud MK Yoav Galant is a worried man. A retired major general who formerly headed up the Southern Command, and as a politician who headed up the ministries of Education, Construction, and Immigration, Galant is worried about what’s happening in Israel’s south, about what’s happening in the north, and in recent days, about the developing crisis with Moscow.
Two weeks ago the Kremlin announced its intention to shut down Jewish Agency operations in Russia, with some analysts saying the move came in response to caretaker prime minister Yair Lapid’s vocal condemnation of the Ukraine invasion when he was foreign minister. Even the Israeli legal delegation dispatched to resolve the crisis was denied entrance to Russia for days.
Yoav Galant, a former naval commando who was nominated for IDF chief of staff, only to be passed over for Benny Gantz, pins the entire blame for the affair on Lapid. When circumstances demanded a diplomatic choice of words, Galant charges, Lapid as foreign minister supplied exactly the opposite. In conversation with Mishpacha, Galant forcefully called for Lapid’s defeat in the upcoming election, and strongly defended his party’s leader, Binyamin Netanyahu.
“This testifies to the recklessness with which Yair Lapid is running the country. Lapid made the first mistake as foreign minister, and now as prime minister, he not only refuses to walk it back, but continues adding one mistake after another, without seeking advice — even from Bennett — and without vetting every move. This is why out of nowhere, he’s found himself in a showdown with a world power whose ties with us are vital in every respect.
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