Lapid to Western immigrants: We’re working on it

Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid insisted Sunday that despite the dissolution of the Knesset before he could implement many of his proposed economic reforms, he nevertheless managed to push through a number of meaningful economic steps that would help young Israelis purchase apartments.

Speaking to 1,000 young English-speaking immigrants at an event on Sunday hosted by the Tel Aviv International Salon, Lapid tried to sidestep disappointment over the Knesset’s failure to pass a massive tax cut on some first-time home purchases (known as the 0% VAT bill), along with other reforms contained in the 2015 budget he had proposed as finance minister in the outgoing government.

In an hour-and-a-half Q&A session that included references to country music singer Brad Paisley, Alabama ribs, and the TV show “Cheers,” Lapid suggested the unwanted election might be “an opportunity we didn’t think about to change the structure of government in Israel, not only the government” itself.

“We have let a major party run our lives for six years, and I think the people are not really impressed. Yes, we should have major parties, but we don’t have to have the parties that have failed again and again.”

MK Ruth Calderon, also of Yesh Atid, said the party has worked to create a foundation for further achievements during its 20 months in parliament. “There’s a feeling of opening connections. These things were stuck for years,” she said after Lapid’s talk. “Two years is a short time when you’re working against opposition.”

But some young immigrants in the audience were unimpressed. Owning their home remained an unattainable goal, they said, and very little had changed in their daily lives or in the high cost of basic necessities.

“There were almost messianic hopes [for Yesh Atid], so of course there’s a bit of a tumble,” said Calderon. “But we came to work and we got out of the deficit. We are at the baseline and now we can blossom.”

Lapid and other members of Yesh Atid at the event refused to address rumors of a possible joint slate with another centrist party, Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu. According to an average of recent polls by political analyst Jeremy Saltan, Kahlon’s 10 predicted seats have edged out Yesh Atid’s nine predicted seats. But a Kahlon-Yesh Atid union might draw more voters than the total the two parties could win apart, since voters may see a unified list as a viable alternative that stood a chance of unseating incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

One major hurdle to such a union, according to reports, is the disagreement over who would lead the joint list.

Lapid did not address a possible union directly, but said he would concentrate on “the best thing for Israel.

“If it turns out that the best thing for the country is not to be No. 1 in Yesh Atid, but No. 46 in Shas, I will do it,” he claimed. “I will find better people to work with and cooperate with, because politics is about cooperating. This is the essence of politics. That, and at least trying to make sure you’re not working with complete cynics.”