JERUSALEM, April 8 — Israel’s opposition leaders swiftly criticised the ceasefire with Iran today, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to achieve the war’s objectives.
The United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire in an 11th-hour bid to avert all-out destruction of Iran threatened by US President Donald Trump.
Netanyahu’s office said Israel supported Trump’s decision to suspend the bombing of Iran, but maintained the ceasefire “does not include Lebanon” where Israeli forces are fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah.
“There has never been a political disaster like this in our entire history. Israel was not even close to the table when decisions were made concerning the core of our national security,” the country’s main opposition leader Yair Lapid wrote on X.
“The army carried out everything that was asked of it, and the public showed remarkable resilience, but Netanyahu failed politically, failed strategically, and did not achieve any of the goals he himself set.”
Netanyahu had set the elimination or at least severe degradation of Iran’s nuclear programme as a central goal of the war, describing it as an “existential threat” to Israel.
He also called for the neutralising of Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities, the weakening or potentially toppling of the Iranian regime and the curbing of Tehran’s regional influence by targeting its network of allied groups.
“It will take us years to repair the political and strategic damage that Netanyahu caused due to arrogance, negligence, and lack of strategic planning,” Lapid said.
The head of the left-wing Democrats party, Yair Golan, called the ceasefire a “strategic failure” by Netanyahu.
“He promised a historic victory and security for generations, and in practice, we got one of the most severe strategic failures Israel has ever known,” Golan said on X.
“It’s a total failure that endangers Israel’s security for years to come.”
Member of parliament and opposition figure Avigdor Liberman also denounced the truce, saying it gave the Iranian regime “an opportunity to regroup”.
“Any agreement with Iran that does not include renouncing the destruction of Israel, uranium enrichment, the production of ballistic missiles, and support for terrorist organisations in the region means that we will have to return to another campaign under more difficult conditions and pay a heavier price,” Liberman said on X.
More reaction was expected to come later on Wednesday after the end of the Jewish holiday of Passover.
Even as Israel backed Trump’s ceasefire plan with Iran, it said the truce did not include Lebanon.
Israel has been fighting a war with Hezbollah since the Lebanese armed group launched rocket fire at Israel in March after the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the first day of the war. — AFP
Date: 8 April, 2026 5:00 pm
Source: Malay Mail
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