Israel’s opposition leader denounces recognition of Palestinian state

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid on Sunday condemned the decision by Britain, Australia and Canada to recognize a Palestinian state, calling it a “diplomatic disaster.”

“It is a bad step and a reward for terrorism,” Lapid wrote on social media platform X.

“A functioning Israeli government could have prevented this. Through smart and serious work, through professional diplomatic dialogue, through proper advocacy.”

Lapid, whose centrist Yesh Atid party sits in the political middle ground, also accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government of presiding over both a “security disaster” and “diplomatic crisis.”

“The government that brought upon us the gravest security disaster in our history is now delivering the worst diplomatic crisis ever,” he wrote, referring to the Hamas assault of October 7, 2023, in which militants killed some 1,200 people and abducted about 250 others.