A sharp public clash erupted Tuesday between Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and opposition leader Yair Lapid following Italy’s decision to suspend a security-related arrangement with Israel, with both men exchanging pointed insults.

Lapid, who previously served as foreign minister, lashed out at Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and Sa’ar in a post on X, writing that “the decision is another embarrassing failure of the prime minister and the non-existent foreign minister.”

He added that “the government has failed in advancing Israel’s interests even opposite people who are supposed to be our friends and natural allies.” Lapid continued: “We will return, form a government, and Israel will once again be the country everyone wanted to love.”

Sa’ar quickly fired back with a forceful response of his own. “The routine tweet of the clown is another embarrassing failure of the ‘non-existent’ opposition leader,” he wrote.

The foreign minister argued that Lapid was speaking without understanding the facts. “If someone who once held, on paper, the position of Israel’s ‘foreign minister’ had minimal knowledge, he would know that no such agreement even exists. There is only a memorandum of understanding that never had, and does not have, any real substance. Israel’s security will not be harmed,” he wrote.

Sa’ar also took aim at Lapid’s remark that “Israel will once again be the country everyone wanted to love,” calling it “a childish statement, baseless, but also dangerous.”

According to Sa’ar, “It is not the love of the world that we should be seeking. We will suffice with respect, appreciation, and safeguarding our vital interests.”

He concluded with another jab at his rival: “We will continue to act in the diplomatic arena in our commitment to the eternity of Israel, not to ‘love of the world.’ Statesmanship is a field for serious people, not for clowns.”