When he launched his political party a decade ago, few predicted that the TV host turned centrist leader could rule Israel. But a long-term career, sustained by a moderate and ambiguous speech, has allowed Lapid to become interim premier. Heading into the elections, he will seek to keep Netanyahu out of power, while he tackles issues like Iran and the high cost of living. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict promises, once again, to be ignored.
Yair Lapid’s arrival as Israel’s interim prime minister is unconventional. Scheduled to take office in August 2023, as part of the alternation deal with Naftali Bennett, the anticipated fall of the diverse ruling coalition precipitated plans.
The movement seems consistent with a political career that was also built in an unexpected way. When he launched his Yesh Atid (“There is a Future” in Spanish) party in 2012, few trusted that it could detach itself from the fate of other centrist formations, usually absorbed by an Israeli political map accustomed to divisions and a tendency to extremes.
Also, unlike his predecessors Benjamin Netanyahu or Bennett himself, Lapid does not have a great military or business career. His popularity was forged in the media: from his beginnings, in the graphic press, he became a famous presenter of a ‘late-night show’, as well as an actor, screenwriter and composer. His colorful profile is completed with edges such as having been an amateur boxer or not having finished high school.
Defined as self-taught, Lapid grew up in an intellectual, liberal and secular environment in Tel Aviv: his mother, Shulamit, was a renowned writer; and his father, of Serbian origin, Yosef ‘Tommy’ Lapid, survived the Holocaust to become a sharp journalist and become Minister of Justice for Ariel Sharon – the eleventh prime minister of the Israeli State – for a brief period between 2003 and 2004.
Father of three children and married to the writer Lihi Lapid, the political career of the new Israeli prime minister has close ties to his family: if his father was one of his promoters -and he remembered it in his first action after being confirmed as prime minister visiting Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem – his autistic daughter Yael inspired his defense of additional funding for people with disabilities, discussed by the Israeli government last May.
A decade of power building between moderation and ambiguity
For some analysts, Yair Lapid was right to bet on a race of resistance, and not speed, in the construction of power. In his first election in 2013, Yesh Atid surprised by coming second behind Netanyahu’s Likud.
Lapid built this unexpected campaign with the support of the middle class, which in 2011 led a wave of protests against the high cost of living and the unequal distribution of economic benefits in Israel. “Where is the money?”, Title of one of his newspaper columns, became a motto of his followers.
That result catapulted him into an alliance with Netanyahu and allowed him to serve as finance minister for just one year. His austerity plan undermined his popularity and friction with the prime minister quickly put him out of business.
Like so many other actors in Israeli politics, he went from collaborator to opponent of Netanyahu. From that role, he projected a figure of moderation sustained by charisma and an ambiguous discourse, with the fight against corruption as the main flag and few mentions of the most punctilious issues.
His defenders point out that, in pursuit of a lasting power building, he knew how to resign some personal ambitions, an unusual gesture among Israeli political leaders. In 2019, he agreed to go after Benny Gantz, Bennett’s defense minister, in a failed alliance and in 2021 handed Naftali Bennett the mandate to create a government under the alternation pact, paving the way for the most diverse coalition in the history of Israel: with eight parties with very different ideologies and unprecedented Arab presence.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, far from Lapid’s agenda
In formal terms, Yesh Atid, Yair Lapid’s party, advocates the so-called ‘two-state solution’ to resolve the historic violence and conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. But he does not accept the division of Jerusalem, whose eastern part, now occupied by Israel, is claimed by the Palestinians as the capital of an eventual state.
In concrete actions, as Foreign Minister since 2021, Lapid has held some high-level meetings with Palestinian leaders and has tried to be open to dialogue, in contrast to his partner Bennett, who closed the door to any possible negotiations with the National Authority. Palestine (PNA).
However, Lapid shows a superficial approach to the conflict. He recently declared that a peace process is not possible today due to Israel’s political instability and the scant support of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose power is disputed by the Islamist group Hamas.
In a column published on June 26 in the daily ‘Haaretz’, the analyst Gideon Levy – recognized critic of Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians – drew Lapid as “the most Israeli of all” because “he has no idea what the occupation is like”. “He doesn’t understand the occupation, he doesn’t know anything about it and he doesn’t care,” he stated.
An example of this is, perhaps, Lapid’s decision on where he will live while he is transitional prime minister. With the official residence on Balfour Street in Jerusalem under repair, the centrist will move to an apartment in a property owned by Palestinians who had to flee in 1948 and which was transferred to the Jewish state after the Arab-Israeli war.
Due to repairs/security issues, Lapid will move into property adjacent to official PM residence on Balfour St – which is a Palestinian home whose residents fled in 1948. Even Ben Gurion refused to live there https://t.co/5cVPsml2wl
— Mairav Zonszein מרב זונשיין (@MairavZ) July 1, 2022
Lapid’s stanceaccording to Nir Hasson in ‘Haaretz’– goes against a move by other prime ministers (such as founder David Ben-Gurion or Levi Eshkol) who refused to live in buildings built by Arabs and abandoned when they were forced to flee.
An acting and campaigning prime minister
Considered the architect of the so-called ‘Government of change’, Lapid sees how the collapse of the coalition -attacked from the outside by the opposition and decimated from within by its own divisions- puts the game back in the starting box ahead of the elections from November 1. The political stalemate threatens to spread, polarization remains strong, and Netanyahu is, once again, the man to beat.
The main difference is that this time ‘Bibi’ faces the electoral campaign from outside the government, while Lapid, for the first time, will do so from the position of prime minister. It is a double-edged sword: on the one hand, it serves to project an image of trust and governability; on the other, any false step is magnified and, with little room for maneuver due to his interim status, there are few achievements that can be scored.
While retaining his role as foreign minister, the new prime minister has one point assured: he will have his photo with US President Joe Biden, who will tour the Middle East between July 13 and 16. With Riyadh as one of the Democratic leader’s stops, several experts speculate that the visit will leave news about a rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Israel. The expansion of the Abraham Accords – which under the administration of Donald Trump allowed the normalization of Israel’s relations with some nations in the region – could be a success for Lapid to boast about.
Behind these alliances of convenience, which undoubtedly further isolate the Palestinians, is a common enemy for the United States, Israel and several Arab nations: Iran. During his time in office, the acting premier will continue with the policy of rejecting the nuclear deal, which, to Israel’s relief, remains stalled.
Tensions with Tehran have risen after reports that Israel was behind the assassination of an Iranian Revolutionary Guard colonel last May, a situation that led the Israeli government to fear reprisals against its citizens abroad, mainly in Turkey. . And this week local media leaks they suggested that an Israeli intelligence unit was behind the cyberattack on a state-owned steel plant in Iran.
In domestic politics, with the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) paralyzed except for exceptional circumstances, Lapid will not be able to introduce major changes.
However, in what seems like a déjà vu of his beginnings in politics, the caretaker prime minister said, announcing the dissolution of the Government with Bennett, that “we need to address the cost of living”. With inflation skyrocketing, partly as a result of the global post-pandemic situation and also because of the war in Ukraine, some protest movements have resurfaced, especially due to the high cost of housing, with Tel Aviv being the most expensive city on the entire planet. .
In this scenario, Lapid will face the challenge of being prime minister in advance until the next Executive resulting from the elections is formed. A process that, as recent history shows –these are the fifth elections since 2019–, can lead to his interim term extending for months or even years.
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