Lapid vows to rebuild ties with Democratic Party after ‘reckless’ behavior of last government
Amy Spiro is a reporter and writer with The Times of Israel
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid vows to rebuild ties with the Democratic Party in the United States, blaming the outgoing government for damaging Israel’s relationship with the party that currently controls the US presidency, Senate and House of Representatives.
“The management of the relationship with the Democratic Party in the United States was careless and dangerous,” Lapid says in a handover ceremony at the Foreign Ministry. “The outgoing government took a terrible gamble, reckless and dangerous, to focus exclusively on the Republican Party and abandon Israel’s bipartisan standing… We find ourselves with a Democratic White House, Senate and House and they are angry. We need to change the way we work with them.
Lapid also says that Israel must repair ties with Diaspora Jewry: “Jews from all streams, Reform, Conservative and Orthodox, are our family. And family is always the most important relationship, and the one that needs to be worked on more than any other.”
The new foreign minister and alternative prime minister vows to strengthen Israel’s ties with its regional neighbors, including new allies in the Gulf — the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain — as well as older allies Jordan and Egypt.
“We need to continue the development that started with the Abraham Accords. To work to strengthen the peace with the Gulf States, with Egypt and with Jordan,” he says. “We will work to sign agreements with more countries in the region and beyond. It’s a process, it won’t happen in a day, but the Foreign Ministry will coordinate those efforts.”
