Lapid on efforts to form unity gov’t: We’ve agreed that 1st law should be term limits for PM

Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid says his party and other anti-Netanyahu factions working to form a government are in agreement on numerous issues, as Hebrew media reports on several gaps that remain between the sides.

In a lengthy Facebook post, Lapid says the parties agree that on issues of religion and state, there’s a need to act “wisely and mostly cautiously.”

“Politics and religion are a problematic mix and we have no interest in trampling on anyone,” he writes.

Lapid adds: “The issues under dispute are clear to all the sides and now is the time to also look for issues on which there is agreement.”

He doesn’t elaborate on what these dispute are, but reports say they include whether to push forward with moves opposed by the ultra-Orthodox such as cutting stipends for yeshivas, as favored by the right-wing secularist Yisrael Beytenu, or to leave open the door for Haredi parties to later join the government, which Yamina chief Naftali Bennett is said to favor.

The Yesh Atid leader, who doesn’t specify by name what party chiefs he is in agreement with, says they agree on the need for a new generation of leadership in Israel, after 12 consecutive years in which Prime Minister Netanyahu, 71, has led the country.

“The first law that needs to be passed is limiting the terms of the prime minister,” he says.

Noting the disparate factions that would compromise a unity government, Lapid says the sides understand there will be disagreements between them if a coalition is indeed formed.

“This is what happens when people different from each other decide to cooperate,” he says.