Lapid’s wife walks out of interview over question about his military service
Lihi Lapid heard complaining off-camera about ‘stupid question,’ saying Channel 13 anchor was in a ‘combative mood’; PM defends her
Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s wife walked out of a television interview after being asked about her husband’s military service.
Speaking Tuesday with Channel 13 news ahead of next week’s election, Lihi Lapid was asked what the premier “really did” when he was in the Israel Defense Forces, with anchor Neria Krauss highlighting “contradicting versions over the years.”
Lapid was a writer for the IDF’s Bamahane magazine for most of his service. He has given contradictory answers on where he first served before suffering an asthma attack — the Armored Corps or the Air Defense Command.
“I met him as a photographer for Bamahane. He was a reporter who came to do reserves, I met him, we fell in love immediately and have continued since,” Lihi Lapid.
When Krauss then asked about “before that,” Lapid paused and mumbled before walking out of view.
Though no longer in the frame, she could be heard speaking off-camera as the microphone was still on.
“She’s asking a stupid question about Yair’s military [service],” Lihi Lapid was heard saying.
She complained that the interview was “full” of questions about former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, a controversial figure in Israel.
“[Krauss] is also in a combative mood,” Lihi Lapid said.
Krauss later defended the questions.
“I stand behind the questions I asked. They are important in the public and political discourse before the elections and need to be asked. Both about Sara Netanyahu and Yair Lapid,” she wrote on Instagram.
On Wednesday, Lapid came to his wife’s defense.
“I’m not sure it’s a great journalistic accomplishment to make my wife cry,” he told Channel 13.
Lapid argued that while the clip published by Channel 13 showed his wife ending the interview over the question about his IDF service, she actually became upset over repeated questions about Sara Netanyahu.
“She came for an interview about the Paralympics, a topic close to her heart, and then she was asked a lot of questions about Sara Netanyahu. Lihi never says a bad word about anyone, she didn’t want to hurt anyone. Sara had done nothing bad to Lihi or to me, so her eyes welled with tears and she left, and returned home with tears in her eyes,” the prime minister said.
In answer to questions about his compulsory military service, Lapid said: “I served in Bamahane.”
Among the questions asked about Sara Netanyahu were whether an “injustice” was done to her and about her reported influence on official decisions.
“They made Sara’s life hard,” Lihi Lapid said in response to the first question, while declining to address the second.
After clips from the interview with Lihi Lapid were widely shared, Benjamin Netanyahu poked fun at his political rival over the incident.
“I know where I was in the army,” he wrote in a social media post that included a photo of him in combat gear while serving in the elite Sayeret Matkal special forces unit.
A number of Israel’s previous leaders served in elite units or were top generals.
