Lapid blasts Netanyahu, but won’t dismiss future partnership

Yesh Atid party head Yair Lapid refused to put the kibosh on joining a coalition headed by Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu after March elections Monday, while admitting mistakes in his freshman turn as finance minister.

Despite castigating the prime minister for creating “a culture of corruption” and accusing him of serial inaction, Lapid said he would not nix the possibility of working with Netanyahu in the future.

“I’ve said 779 times that we are against the culture of disqualifications and boycotts,” he told Army Radio. “But I’ll do everything in my power to prevent Netanyahu from becoming prime minister.”

“[Under Netanyahu’s leadership] the country is going nowhere. How can it be that no one knows what his plans are?” he asked.

Lapid also acknowledged that numerous mistakes were made during his tenure as finance minister and that he got “hit over the head more than once.”

“We entered the treasury drunk with power, we weren’t modest enough and we didn’t listen enough,” he said

“Then again, nobody is infallible. I look at the ‘experienced [politicians]’ and I don’t see any major achievements,” he said.

The former news anchor, who swept into the Knesset at the head of a 19-strong faction amid growing public anger over socioeconomic issues, claimed that he received a “failing economy” which he managed to rehabilitate during his term, and argued that the country needs new leadership.

“You don’t want to be stuck forever with the same people,” he said, hinting at calls across the political spectrum to prevent Netanyahu’s reelection.

The Likud chief is currently serving his second consecutive term as prime minister following the March 2009 elections. It marks his third premiership overall following a stint as prime minister in 1996-9.

Likud officials said in return that “for a while already, Lapid has had no future” — a play on his party’s name, Yesh Atid, or “there is a future.”

“I’ll stay in the Knesset, even if I get 27 seats and even if I only get seven seats,” Lapid insisted. “I serve the public because that’s my job. I’ll be wherever the citizens of Israel place me,” he said.

Amid the breakup of the ruling coalition in December 2014, Netanyahu fired Lapid from his post as finance minister, leading to the dissolution of the Knesset and the current election slated for March 17, 2015.