This is the interview, a new show from the New York Times.

I'm Louu Garcia Navarro.

I first arrived in the Middle East in 2002 during the second intifada or Palestinian uprising.

I lived in Jerusalem and reported on Israelis and Palestinians off and on for the following decade.

There were stretches of horrific violence while I was there.

But even during the darkest moments,

I saw that many people on both sides of the conflict believed that peace could be achieved.

That no longer feels true.

Since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th, killing over a thousand Israelis and capturing hostages,

Israel's response has been swift and brutal.

More than 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed,

the majority of them civilians, according to the local authorities.

Most of Gaza's infrastructure has been destroyed and international pressure is

mounting on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war and to avoid a new one with Iran.

In this moment I wanted to talk to one of Netanyahu's most vocal critics inside Israel,

Yer Lapid.

Lippid is the official leader of the Israeli opposition.

He's a former journalist, TV host,

and actor who entered Israeli politics over a decade ago,

founding a centrist party called Yeshatid.

He briefly became Prime Minister of Israel in 2022

and he refused to

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