Prime Minister Yair Lapid slammed back at Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, saying that the Likud leader did not understand the details of the new gas deal between Israel and Lebanon.
Under the deal, revealed on Sunday, Israel will receive royalties from gas that Lebanon extracts in the disputed area of the Mediterranean Sea.
“Some facts for Netanyahu, simply because he did not see the agreement” Israel receives 100% of its security needs, 100% of the Karish field and even some of the profits of the Lebanese reservoir,” Lapid said on Monday morning. “I understand that it hurts you that you were not able to reach such an agreement, but that is no reason to join Nasrallah's propaganda. It is possible to praise a government that works and brings results to the people of Israel.”
Both sides received a proposed economic waters agreement over the weekend from US Energy Envoy Amos Hochstein, who has traveled repeatedly between Beirut and Jerusalem over the past year to negotiate the deal.
The deal will have Israel concede the entire triangle of economic waters that had been in dispute with Lebanon in 2012-2021, but not the extended triangle that Lebanon demanded in early 2021. It will also allow Lebanon to develop the entire Kana Field, which extends South into what would be Israeli waters.
קצת עובדות לנתניהו, פשוט כי הוא לא ראה את ההסכם: ישראל מקבלת 100% מצרכי הבטחון שלה, 100% ממאגר כריש ואפילו חלק מהרווחים של המאגר הלבנוני. אני מבין שכואב לכם שלא הצלחתם להשיג הסכם כזה, אבל זו לא סיבה להתגייס לתעמולה של נסראללה. אפשר לפרגן קצת לממשלה שעובדת ומביאה תוצאות לעם ישראל.
— יאיר לפיד - Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) October 3, 2022
Netanyahu accused Lapid of surrendering to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and his threats to attack Israel.
“Yair Lapid shamefully surrendered to [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah’s threats,” Netanyahu stated. “He is giving Hezbollah sovereign territory of the State of Israel with a huge gas reservoir that belongs to you, the citizens of Israel.”