Lapid Rejects Netanyahu's Knesset Sukkah Invitation, Quoting Psalms
Opposition leader Yair Lapid declined an invitation from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana to a Knesset sukkah Torah study event, citing extremely short notice and criticizing the timing.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid announced on Thursday that he will not attend a Torah study event scheduled for tonight in the Knesset sukkah for Hoshana Rabbah, featuring Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defense establishment heads. Lapid stated that Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana sent him the invitation via WhatsApp at 1:42 PM—just hours before the event. Due to the short notice, the opposition leader stated he would not be able to make it.
"Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana sent me a WhatsApp at 1:42 PM with an invitation to a Torah study event in the sukkah tonight," Lapid wrote, offering two explanations for the timing. He suggested that either the organizers "did not know in advance that tonight is Hoshana Rabbah and were suddenly surprised to find it in their calendar," or the invitation was intentionally sent late "so that I could not come and they could claim I refused to attend a Torah study event."
Lapid made it clear he would not attend: "In any case, since I cannot come on such short notice, I remind them that on Hoshana Rabbah it is customary to read Psalms, and I suggest they deeply consider tonight the verse, 'Deliver me, O Lord, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue' (Psalms 120:2)."
