Yesh Atid is here to stay, says Lapid

Interrupted by adoring shouts of “Ooh, ah, mi ze bah, rosh hamemshala haba!” (Ooh, ah, look who’s coming, it’s the next prime minister!), Yesh Atid’s Yair Lapid took the stage in Hangar 11 at Tel Aviv’s port late Tuesday night and told his crowd of supporters to have pride in their accomplishment.

“Tonight’s results are proof that Yesh Atid is here to stay,” he said, to the cheers of the crowd.

Rising above early campaign polls that pointed to only seven seats for the centrist party, Yesh Atid came away from its second election with 12 seats, according to the TV exit polls. It’s still way down from the 19 it had in the outgoing Knesset.

“We are the biggest centrist party,” said Lapid, “and we will remain a political power for years to come. We’re here in order to stay.”

Less pleasing, though not discussed, was the overall election result, which seems set to leave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in power. Lapid had vowed “to do everything” to prevent that happening.

All of the party’s 19 members in the outgoing Knesset were present at the election night headquarters, including American-born MK Dov Lipman, number 17 on the list, who won’t be serving in this Knesset.

“I believe in this model,” said Lipman. “It takes time for things to take effect, and there are ups and downs, but we started at seven seats and got to 12.”

The rallying cry of the evening was “Yesh Atid (There’s a future) for the country,” shouted at any and every opportunity.

“When the smoke from tonight clears, we’ll be back at work,” said Lapid, “fighting all the extortion and the politics and remembering that it doesn’t have to be tribes fighting for themselves, but finding a dream for the country.”

“We’ll fight for Israel, for what it needs to be,” he said.

MK Mickey Levy, listed at number 11, a former police spokesperson, said he wasn’t concerned about heading into the opposition.

“I have no problem being in the opposition,” he said. “I can fight with a knife in my teeth.”

Lapid didn’t spend any time referring to the party’s likely shift to the opposition benches. When he finished speaking, the drums rolled and the activists cheered, leading Lapid to “say one more thing,” and thank the party’s activists, “all those who worked so hard.”

Yesh Atid has a strong base of young activists in their twenties, many of whom were present at the party headquarters, dancing to the Shlomo Artzi and trance music that played intermittently throughout the night.

“It’s a party that puts young people at the center,” said Doreen Abraham, 25, a leader in Yesh Atid Youth, who has worked to make connections between the party and its international counterparts in the US and Europe. “We’re the ones who are really active in the field.”

Perhaps that’s why messaging app WhatsApp was the clear frontrunner in Yesh Atid’s social media campaign, said Roei Deutsch, who runs new media for the party.

“Most of our messaging went out on WhatsApp,” said Deutsch.

While videos and Facebook remained strong as messaging platforms, the party’s politicians also traded comments and arguments on Twitter.

Deutsch said that Yesh Atid was also the biggest user of photo app Instagram.

Michal Slawny Cababia, an activist who worked for Yesh Atid first in Haifa and now in the country’s center, said the party has appealed to a younger population because the party has carried through on its promises.

“Yesh Atid has principles,” she said. “And Yair Lapid does what he says he’s going to do.”

He’s also the only party leader to jump off the stage to “hug every single person,” said Yair Zivan, who handles the international press. “This is a party that’s united around a sense of mission for the long term and is passionate, with no plans of going anywhere.”