Blue and White Party leaders Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid released conflicting statements on Sunday after the Lebanese-based Hezbollah terrorist group fired anti-tank missiles into Israel.
Taking to Twitter after the attack, which destroyed an unoccupied Israel Defense Forces’ vehicle and damaged an army base outside Avivim, former IDF Chief of Staff and current Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz said, “In operations against whoever would attempt to harm Israel’s citizenry or sovereignty, there are no opposition and no coalitions. In light of the security situation, I have issued directives to freeze the campaign at this stage, until the security incidents become clear.”
According to the IDF, multiple attacks against Hezbollah targets were launched in response to the incident.
However, at around the same time Gantz sent his tweet, Blue and White No. 2 MK Yair Lapid railed against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The children in the north are in shelters for only one reason: Because Bibi [Netanyahu] violated the successful policy of ambiguity because of the elections,” tweeted Lapid. “This is what happens when the prime minister plays politics at the expense of security.”
The irony of the contradiction was not lost on the Likud Party, which responded with its own tweet.
“Two contradictory tweets from Lapid and Gantz put out in the same minute. One big balagantz,” the party tweeted, a play on words combining Gantz’s name with the Israeli slang word for “mess”—balagan.
Likud’s next tweet turned to Lapid, saying he had “joined his natural partners from the Joint [Arab] List and attacked Prime Minister Netanyahu while he was navigating, with responsibility and firmness, a complicated security incident in the north.”
“Lapid was seriously mistaken when he chose to play politics at the expense of IDF soldiers as they were fighting Hezbollah,” the party added.
“Your moral preaching and self-righteousness don’t make any impression on me,” responded Lapid.
