Netanyahu accuses Lapid of “surrendering to Hezbollah” over US border delimitation proposal

Oct. 2 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu accused Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Sunday of “surrendering to Hezbollah” for agreeing to study the United States’ proposed border delimitation between Lebanon and Israel.

“Yair Lapid has shamefully surrendered to the threats of (Hezbollah leader Hassan) Nasrallah. He has handed over to Hezbollah a sovereign territory of the State of Israel with a huge gas reserve that belongs to you, citizens of Israel,” he said. affirmed Netanyahu, according to the Israeli newspaper ‘The Jerusalem Post’.

Lapid announced this Sunday that the agreement is almost complete thanks to the mediation of the United States envoy, Amos Hochstein. The proposal provides for Lebanon to keep a large part of the disputed area and in return receive royalties from Total Energy, the company that has the Lebanese license for gas extraction.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz has argued that the details cannot be made public during the negotiations, but has assured that the final version will be presented to the Knesset or Israeli Parliament for approval “in an orderly and transparent manner.”

However, Netanyahu has assured that Lapid wants to approve the agreement without a debate in the Knesset and without the necessary referendum for the transfer of sovereign territory. “Lapid has no jurisdiction to hand over sovereign territories that belong to all of us to an enemy state,” he said.

Lapid has responded that the referendum law relates directly to East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights — territories militarily occupied by Israel and not recognized as Israeli under international law — and not to an economic border unrelated to national security.