Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid is not the leader of the opposition – a position reserved for the head of the largest non-coalition party, in this government, Zionist Union – but he is positioning himself as an alternative to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and tells Ynet today: “The next election will be Lapid vs. Netanyahu.”
The Yesh Atid leader, who served in the coalition in the previous government as finance minister, says the next election may take place as soon as next year, even as Israel is just getting over a campaign that ended in late March.
“Our international standing is abysmal; we’re moving backwards in every field,” Lapid says.
Lapid in recent months has taken positions which often agree with the government in spirit but nevertheless are sharply critical of it. For example, he called on Netanyahu to step down due to his “failure,” in Lapid’s words, to influence the nuclear deal with Iran. Lapid shares the prime minister’s view that the agreement is bad for Israel, but sees the PM as primarily responsible for that failure.
Yair Lapid, speaks during a Yesh Atid party meeting at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament in Jerusalem on July 20, 2015. ( Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
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