Lapid: Netanyahu agreed to ceasefire before Nasrallah strike

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid claimed on Wednesday that the United States told him before the Sept. 27 targeted killing near Beirut of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to a three-week ceasefire.

The Yesh Atid Party head posted to X that he thought a 21-day truce in Lebanon would be “madness and defeatism,” and he proposed a seven-day break in fighting instead.

He tweeted that he was responding to claims he had agreed to a ceasefire with Iran’s Lebanese terrorist proxy.

“Wow, shocker, the propaganda machine is lying again. Their latest lie goes like this: ‘Lapid agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon, if Netanyahu had agreed, Nasrallah wouldn’t have been killed. …' They have no limits. What actually happened was that the Americans agreed with Netanyahu on a ceasefire of no fewer than 21 days.”

Lapid continued: “When I received the information from the Americans, I thought it was madness and Netanyahu’s defeatism, and I said publicly that I proposed reducing it to just seven days to avoid giving Hezbollah a gift of preparation time. Throughout that discussion, the intelligence that enabled Nasrallah’s elimination wasn’t even available yet. It only arrived later. Once it was on the table, it was clear that eliminating him was the right thing to do.”

The former prime minister concluded: “For the record, I supported Nasrallah’s elimination and publicly praised it. It was the right move, both operationally and politically, and I always support such targeted actions. God willing, [Hamas chief Yahya] Sinwar will be next.”

In a tweet on Sept. 26, Lapid wrote: “The State of Israel should announce that it accepts the Biden-Macron proposal for a ceasefire, but only for seven days, so as not to allow Hezbollah to rebuild its command and control systems.

“We will not accept any proposal that does not include the removal of Hezbollah from our northern border. Any proposal must allow the residents of the north to return home safely and immediately, and lead to the resumption of negotiations for a hostage deal. Any violation, even the slightest, of the ceasefire will result in Israel resuming full-force attacks across all of Lebanon.”

Netanyahu has repeatedly stressed that while his government “shares the aims of the U.S.-led initiative of enabling people along our northern border to return safely and securely to their homes,” he has instructed the Israel Defense Forces to continue the fighting with “full force.”

Last month, a group of coalition lawmakers sent a letter to the prime minister with an urgent demand to cancel the natural gas deal agreed between Jerusalem and Beirut during Lapid’s premiership in 2022.

At the time of signing, Lapid hailed the agreement as a “tremendous” diplomatic, military and economic achievement, though experts warned it could lead to reduced security for northern Israeli towns.