Yesh Atid takes flack for Russian site calling Likud a ‘sectoral Sephardic party’

Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party has taken down parts of its Russian-language campaign page after facing criticism for saying opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud is becoming a “sectoral” faction for Israeli Jews of Sephardic descent.

The webpage charged that Likud no longer represents “all parts” of Israeli society.

“It abandoned its ideology and became a sectoral Sephardic party,” it said.

The text was first highlighted by Likud MK Galit Distel Atbaryan.

“Yair Lapid called today in Russian not to vote for Likud because it’s a ‘party of Sephardim.’ Lapid’s racism has no limits,” the party says in a statement.

Yesh Atid says the text was written by an outside party without the party’s knowledge and does not reflect its views. The party added that it was going over other content on the website.