Ikram Kouachi
08 October 2026•Update: 08 October 2026
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said on Wednesday that Israel is becoming increasingly isolated internationally, attributing the trend to “years of efforts” by Hamas, Qatar and Iran to sever the country’s ties with the global community.
Speaking at an international counter-terrorism conference at Reichman University in Tel Aviv, Lapid said: “Hamas, Qatar and Iran always wanted us cut off from the world. And now the world is cutting itself off from us.”
He pointed to arrest warrants issued in The Hague, searches of Israelis’ luggage at airports in the Netherlands, disputes over football in Ireland, Eurovision boycotts and representatives walking out during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the UN General Assembly.
“They worked on this for years, and now it is happening,” Lapid said. “These are not things that just happened to us. This was their plan. This was their objective all along.”
Lapid, a former prime minister, has repeatedly criticized Netanyahu’s government over its handling of Israel’s international relations.
Netanyahu faces charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three major corruption cases. Alongside the domestic corruption proceedings, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu in 2024 on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.
Three years into Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip, it continues to violate the ceasefire that took effect on Oct. 10, 2025.
Since October 2023, more than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 175,000 injured, while around 90% of Gaza’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed. At least 1,467 have killed and 5,161 injured since the truce.