With Israel and Lebanon close to reaching agreement on a maritime border demarcation, Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu is threatening to roll back from the deal if he wins in upcoming parliamentary elections.
Netanyahu’s position was met with pushback from Israeli officials who are now fighting internal conflict regarding the validity of signing an agreement with Lebanon ahead of the November 1st vote.
Israeli Public Security Minister Omer Barlev accused Netanyahu of “doing exactly the same thing [Hassan] Nasrallah,” referring to the head of the Lebanese terror group.
Netanyahu had argued that the deal with Lebanon would bring about “strategic damage” to Israel’s security.
Barlev, commenting on Netanyahu’s statements, said that the Israeli opposition leader wasn’t aware of developments and that he was stuck on the years he was prime minister.
Barlev recalled that the file of maritime border demarcation with Lebanon was at an impasse when Netanyahu was in office.
Prime Minister Yair Lapid had affirmed that the US-brokered agreement grants Israel “100% of its security needs, 100% of the Karish reserve, and even some of the profits from the Lebanon reserve.”
“I understand that it pains you (Netanyahu) that you didn’t succeed in achieving an agreement (when you were prime minister), but that is no reason to join (Hassan) Nasrallah’s propaganda campaign,” Lapid tweeted, referring to the Hezbollah leader.
Netanyahu had previously said that Lapid surrendered shamefully to Nasrallah’s threats. He also questioned the validity of an agreement without first holding a referendum and accused Lapid of bargaining away Israel’s “sovereign territory.”
Moreover, the opposition leader also vowed to recruit a majority at the Knesset to topple the agreement.
Under the agreement, Israel reserves for itself the entire area in which the Karish field is located. Israel will also receive a small share of about 12% of the profits of the Qana field, which is located on Lebanon’s side.
