Benjamin Netanyahu is facing a domestic backlash over the Pakistan-brokered two-week ceasefire deal with Iran, with critics accusing him of presiding over “the worst political disaster in history”.
The Israeli prime minister is facing an onslaught from parties across the country’s political spectrum for not continuing the conflict, although Tel Aviv was not involved in the peace talks.
There is also a growing international outcry over ongoing Israeli strikes on Lebanon, which, as of Thursday, have killed 1,700 people including 130 children. Western countries have insisted that Lebanon must be part of the ceasefire, while Tehran has claimed that attacks on the country represent a “grave violation” of the agreement.
The developments have sparked outrage among Israeli politicians, who have urged Mr Netanyahu to continue the war. Opposition leader Yair Lapid branded the Israeli PM’s handling of the conflict a catastrophe.
“There has never been such a political disaster in all of our history,” he wrote in a post on X on Wednesday. “Israel wasn’t even at the table when decisions were made concerning the core of our national security.”
He praised the military for carrying out “everything that was asked of it” and the public for demonstrating “amazing resilience”, but said they had both been let down by Mr Netanyahu due to what he called the leader’s “arrogance, negligence and lack of strategic planning”.
Mr Lapid’s criticism was repeated by former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who said Israel’s failure to achieve its war goals would leave it “facing a vengeful Iran”.
“The reason why so many people feel disappointed tonight is that the leadership sold us illusions,” he said in a live broadcast on Wednesday.
“All their empty promises have exploded in our faces. Unfortunately, each of us sees with our own eyes that Hamas is getting stronger. Hezbollah and Iran are standing on their own two feet, and this is happening because a government that dismantles Israel from within cannot defeat the enemy from without.”
Yair Golan, centre-left politician and the head of the Democrats party, accused Mr Netanyahu of lying.
“He promised a ‘historic victory’ and security for generations, and in practice, we got one of the gravest strategic failures Israel has known,” he said in a post on X, adding: “Blood was spilled ... brave citizens killed (and) soldiers fell ... none of the goals were accomplished.”
“The nuclear program was not destroyed; the ballistic threat remains; the regime is in place and is even stronger coming out of this war,” he continued.
Mr Netanyahu’s education minister Yoav Kisch hit back at the critics, accusing them of “pumping up a defeat that’s echoed in the enemy’s media outlets”.
The Israeli PM has also faced a growing international outcry over the IDF’s campaign in Lebanon, which aid agencies warn has created a humanitarian catastrophe. More than 250 people have been killed in 24 hours in the deadliest attacks on the country since the conflict began.
More than 100 sites were targeted in 10 minutes on Wednesday and more than a million people (20 per cent of the population) has been displaced since the attacks began in late February.
Despite a ceasefire being agreed on Wednesday, Mr Netanyahu and the White House said that the 14-day truce does not apply to Lebanese territory – a key demand for Tehran.
Israel says it must continue its attacks in order to defeat Hezbollah, an Iran-backed proxy group. However, large numbers of civilians have been killed and humanitarian groups have warned there are similarities to the IDF’s campaign in Gaza.
Spain, France and the UK have all called for the ceasefire to be extended to Lebanon.
Britain’s foreign minister Yvette Cooper called for the country to be “urgently included” and on Thursday called Israel’s attacks “highly damaging”, following similar comments by French president Emmanuel Macron.
The European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas criticised the number of civilian deaths in Lebanon and said it was becoming “hard to argue that such heavy-handed actions fall within self-defence”.
Mr Trump has also come under fire in Israel for agreeing a ceasefire.
“Donald, you came off as a duck,” said the far-right head of the country’s National Security Committee, Tzvika Foghel in a since-deleted post on X.
The head of the conservative Yisrael Beytenu party, Avigdor Liberman, said the agreement with Iran “gives the ayatollah’s regime a break and time to regroup”.
“Any agreement with Iran, without giving up on destroying Israel, enriching uranium, manufacturing ballistic missiles and supporting terror groups in the region, means we’ll return to another war in harder conditions with a heavier price,” he wrote on X.
Netanyahu faces political storm in Israel after Iran ceasefire
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