In a fiery speech to the Knesset plenum on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed what he said were his government’s “tremendous achievements” in the war in Gaza that “changed the face of the Middle East” and that “broke the stranglehold of the Iranian axis.”

Reeling off a list of accomplishments, including the assassination of senior Hamas leaders, Netanyahu also announced for the first time that the IDF had successfully eliminated Muhammad Sinwar, a key Hamas leader and the brother of slain Hamas leader in Gaza and October 7 architect Yahya Sinwar.

The prime minister rejected allegations that he had given up on efforts to release the remaining 58 hostages in Gaza, and took credit for having secured the release of 197 hostages, “148 of whom are alive.” He contended that only military pressure had brought about their release.

Netanyahu also claimed that if the government had listened to the opposition, none of the achievements would have been secured.

Netanyahu made his speech in the Knesset plenum after the opposition secured 40 votes to require the prime minister to be present at a debate on the topic of “The total failure of the government in achieving the war aims — returning the hostages and destroying Hamas.”

Replying to Netanyahu, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid denounced him for having “lost Trump,” after the US president sidelined Israel to renew negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, reach a deal with the Houthi regime in Yemen that did not include the Jewish state, lift sanctions on Syria and strengthen US ties with Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Family members of hostages still in captivity in Gaza staged a demonstration in the visitors gallery, and turned their backs on the prime minister as he spoke.

Opposition MKs frequently interrupted the prime minister with angry rejections of his claims, leading Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana to call several of them to order on multiple occasions.

Netanyahu tore into the opposition parties from the plenum podium and said they were “disconnected from reality” in failing to see the government’s achievements.

“Have you fallen on your heads? Are you on planet Earth? … In Israel’s wars there have never been so many achievements on so many fronts,” averred the prime minister.

“We repelled the terrorists, eliminated Deif, Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar and Muhammad Sinwar. We cut off the supply of weapons to Hamas, returned about 90 percent of the residents of the Gaza border region to their homes, and we are making a dramatic change in the Gaza Strip.”

The premier argued that Israel’s military campaign had also “changed the face of the Middle East” and “broken the strangleholds of the Iranian axis,” describing these achievements as “the total opposite” of the failure claimed by his opponents.

Beyond accusing the government and Netanyahu of shirking responsibility for the disaster of October 7 itself, critics say the leadership has failed to steer the war in a clear direction with obtainable goals, dragging out the campaign and refusing to build an alternative to Hamas in Gaza while leaving Jerusalem increasingly isolated globally.

Netanyahu described claims he had given up on efforts to bring about the release of the remaining hostages as “lies,” and maintained that the government was still committed to that goal.

“Every hostage means the world to me. I am working to return all our hostages, the living and the dead,” he said.

The prime minister also argued that most of the 251 hostages taken on October 7 would not have returned if the government had listened to opposition parties, claiming that they would have stopped the war and eased the military pressure on Hamas.

“Hamas would have fortified its power in Gaza… We would have had more kidnappings, more rape, more massacres, more Hamas on the fences,” argued Netanyahu, and said that the “total victory” he envisioned was the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip and the exile of Hamas’s remaining leaders.

“We achieved all the achievements because we didn’t listen to you,” Netanyahu said.

“We withstood pressures at home and abroad and stuck to the goal of destroying Hamas’s military and governmental capabilities and returning the hostages. The majority of the people support us.”

Speaking in response, Lapid accused Netanyahu of responsibility for the October 7 Hamas invasion and argued that Israel had been safe and secure during the tenure of the Bennett-Lapid government preceding the current administration.

The Yesh Atid leader claimed that there had been “security for the residents of the south” under his government, and that there had been “full coordination with the Americans” and cooperation with other countries in the region.

“If I had said two and a half years ago that you would be getting up [at night] three times a week because of missiles from Yemen, you would have thought I was crazy. If I had said that the Iranians would attack us, you would have thought I needed to switch meds. Two and a half years ago, the situation was under control,” said Lapid.

The Leader of the Opposition argued that Israel had never had such a nadir in relations with the US as there was today, telling Netanyahu, “You lost Trump.”

“The Americans made a deal with the Houthis behind your back without you knowing. The president met with the president of Syria, without you knowing. Renewed ties with Erdogan, without you knowing.”