The decision not to attack "strategic and economic targets" in Iran was "mistaken," and Israel can and must exact a "far heavier" price from Iran, opposition leader MK Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) wrote in a statement on Saturday in response to the Israeli attack.
Lapid congratulated the Israel Air Force (IAF) which exhibited the "highest operational capabilities in the world," but concluded that "Iran is the head of the Axis of Evil, and must pay a heavy price for its aggression."
Iran's future as a nuclear power
Fellow opposition member Yisrael Beytenu chairman MK Avigdor Liberman also praised the IAF's capabilities, but warned in a post on X that Iran will "continue its efforts to obtain nuclear weapons, and continue supplying Hezbollah, the Houthis, and other Shi'ite militias and various proxies with funding from oil and gas sales."
"Unfortunately, instead of exacting a real price, it seems that Israel's government again has sufficed with extravagant actions and public relations," Liberman added.
Democrats chairman Yair Golan commended the government's restraint but attributed it either to US pressure or the IDF's "voice of reason."
"As things seem now, there is a large potential that the Israeli response damaged Iran's defense and attack capabilities, but without dragging us into a certain war of attrition, that is not within the range of Israelxs lll's security and national interests," Golan wrote on X.
He called the response a "closing act" and not an "opening act," and said that if this is indeed the case, Israel's government can return to dealing with what it "refuses to deal with," to return the hostages in Hamas captivity.