Opposition Leader Yair Lapid on Monday accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to achieve victory over Iran and Hezbollah ahead of a potential Iran-US deal, insisting that Israel must retain its freedom of action regardless of what the US decides to do.

Addressing reporters ahead of his Yesh Atid party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, Lapid called the agreement taking shape between Washington and Tehran a “disaster,” complaining that it does not deal with either the Iranian nuclear or ballistic missile threats.

“Based on the partial reports we have regarding the nuclear arrangements, we are going to miss the agreement that was canceled in 2018,” he said, referring to US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal — signed by his predecessor Barack Obama — during his first term.

It is “absurd” that the deal was written without Israel at the table, Lapid continued, declaring that “time and again the Netanyahu government sets goals and fails to meet them.”

“The current situation is the result of a continuous failure of government. Benjamin Netanyahu is a man blessed with talents, but he has grown old and tired and is surrounded by the least suitable people to run a country,” he asserted — arguing that instead of the US and Israel toppling the Iranian regime, it only “grew stronger.”

Israel is a “sovereign state” and not an American protectorate and a prime minister not dependent on Trump for a pardon “should have been able to stand up to him and say, ‘Sir, we maintain our freedom of action, we are not committed to things that go against our security,'” Lapid said, referring to Trump’s efforts to pressure President Isaac Herzog to pardon Netanyahu in his ongoing criminal trial.

“I have no grievance against President Trump. President Trump does what he thinks is right for the United States, but the prime minister of Israel needs to do what is........

© The Times of Israel