Lapid Warns Netanyahu Is Building Election Satellite Parties

Opposition leader Yair Lapid used a Monday press conference to accuse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of building satellite parties because, in Lapid's words, he knows he will lose the election. Hebrew reports said Lapid aimed the remark at a new Benny Gantz vehicle and at smaller right-leaning lists that could pull votes across the anti-Netanyahu camp, while Gantz fired back that Lapid has no place in public life after political maneuvering during wartime. The clash is campaign hardball, but it matters because fragmented slates can decide whether Israel gets a stable right-religious or national-unity path after the next vote.