Lapid sends condolences to US: Line connects Tel Aviv, Orlando

Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid sends his condolences to the American people for the Orlando mass shooting, saying there was a connection between last week’s attack in Tel Aviv and the deadly assault at the Pulse nightclub.

“On Wednesday four Israelis were murdered at the Sarona Market in Tel Aviv. Yesterday 50 members of the LGBT community were murdered in Orlando,” says Lapid in a statement. “There is a line connecting these two murders. In both cases innocent people were murdered not because of something they did but because of who and what they are.”

He says: “The connection between Israel and the United States stems first and foremost from our shared values and the fact that in this war against extremism, against hatred – we’re on the same side.”

Lapid also says that the world’s population must “choose a side” in what he calls “a global war.”

“On one side there are those who define themselves by hatred of the other, by murderous Islamist fanaticism, by the attempt to drag us back to the Middle Ages. On the other side, us, all those who define themselves by tolerance, acceptance of the other and the ability to live together with those who we disagree with. There is one thing you can’t be in this war and that’s neutral. Everyone must choose a side,” he says.