Lapid has also called to protect the judiciary fromNetanyahu,who is standing trial on corruption charges and who,together with his right-wing and religious allies,intended to curb the powers of the Supreme Court and possibly seek some kind of immunity from prosecution.
Yair Lapid Lapid has 28 days to try to form a coalition.Credit:AP
Speaking to party activists before the election,Lapid described the coalition that Netanyahu wanted to form as “an extremist,homophobic,chauvinistic,racist and anti-democratic government,” and said “it’s a government where nobody represents working people,the people who pay taxes and believe in the rule of law”.
As a former finance minister in the Netanyahu-led government formed in 2013,Lapid instituted reforms meant to share the national burden more equally between mainstream Israelis and ultra-Orthodox men who choose full-time Torah study over work and army service,and depend on charity and welfare payouts. Most of his policies were undone by succeeding governments.
In three elections in 2019 and 2020,Lapid’s Yesh Atid ran in a three-party,centrist alliance called Blue and White,led by Benny Gantz,a former army chief of staff. Lapid parted ways with Blue and White after Gantz reneged on a main election promise and joined forces with Netanyahu to form an uneasy — and short-lived — unity government after last year’s election.
After a highly successful career as a journalist and popular television host,Lapid was the surprise of the 2013 election when,as a political novice,his party surpassed expectations and placed second,turning him into the chief power broker in the formation of the coalition.
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His father,Yosef Lapid,a Holocaust survivor and an anti-religious politician,once also headed a centrist party and served as justice minister. His mother,Shulamit Lapid,is a well-known novelist.
An amateur boxer known for his casual-chic black clothing,Yair Lapid launched his political career on the back of the social justice protests of 2011,giving voice to the country’s struggling middle class.
On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,he has stuck to the middle ground,presenting safe positions within the Jewish consensus. He has said that he supports a two-state solution but opposes any division of Jerusalem,which the Palestinians envision as their future capital.