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Lapid: A New Leader for Israel?
December 31, 2016
Israelis have reason to be worried about the direction of their current government, as the prospect of a one-state future comes starkly into view. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s furious denunciations of the United States’ refusal to veto U.N. Security Council Resolution 2334 condemning expanded settlement activity in the West Bank, and Secretary of State John Kerry’s December 28 speech laying out well-established parameters for a two-state solution, set forth the two paths that Israel must choose between.
Until last year Netanyahu equivocated and put up a front that he still supported two states, but that charade is over. Nevertheless, Israelis could still take comfort in the fact that Netanyahu’s press to expand settlements in the West Bank would be moderated by American pressure. But now as president-elect Donald Trump is soon to take office and appears to have given his wholehearted support to Netanyahu’s settlements project, there is no longer anything holding Israel back from permanent occupation and even annexation of the West Bank. Israelis who do not want to face the insecurity that will result from some five million Palestinians living in their country have good reason to be worried.
This is a moment of decision for Israel, when it must decide what kind of future it wants for itself: a Jewish state within secure borders and separated from the Palestinians or a “greater Israel” where peace and security, and even its Jewish identity, are perpetually challenged by a growing Palestinian population in its midst.
We believe that Israel’s peace and security, as well as its Jewish culture, can only be secured by separating from the Palestinian people and giving them their own state. The leading Israeli politician who shares this view is Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid. Lapid said on a television interview on November 12, “We need to remove the Palestinians from our lives… otherwise, there will be no peace. We do not want the two countries to be packed into a single state.”
It is time for all Israelis who do not wish to see their nation descend into that dismal future to get behind Lapid and support him for Israel’s next prime minister. Lapid has grown much in the four years since 2012 when he left a successful career in broadcasting to enter Israeli politics, gaining the maturity and political sense to navigate Israel’s notoriously fractious and unstable political landscape. Recent polls suggest his star is on the rise, eclipsing that of Isaac Herzog’s Zionist Union. A December 30th poll suggests that if elections were held today, his Yesh Atid party would win 27 seats in the Knesset to Zionist Union’s 8. A centrist candidate, he is well-positioned to form a coalition that could unseat Netanyahu and his allies.
We suggest that his effort to unseat Netanyahu should begin by making an alliance with Moshe Kahlon, who is Minister of Finance in the current government. A past critic of Netanyahu’s socio-economic and diplomatic policies, Kahlon more than anyone has seen the cost of the heavy economic investment in the settlements to the rest of the nation, where housing prices are out of reach and municipal budgets are being slashed to the bone. He may see that Israel’s further diplomatic isolation due to the settlements issue will have further negative impact on Israel’s economy in the years ahead. Kahlon may have joined the government thinking he would be a moderating force, but now Netanyahu’s extreme support of the settlements only demonstrates his impotence in that regard.
A scenario in which Kahlon resigns from the government and takes former supporters from his Kulanu party with him (a total of ten seats from Netanyahu’s 67-seat majority in the 120-seat Knesset), triggering new elections, and then joins with Lapid in a new governing coalition, is not out of the question.
Israelis have reason to be worried about the direction of their current government, as the prospect of a one-state future comes starkly into view. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s furious denunciations of the United States’ refusal to veto U.N. Security Council Resolution 2334 condemning expanded settlement activity in the West Bank, and Secretary of State John Kerry’s December 28 speech laying out well-established parameters for a two-state solution, set forth the two paths that Israel must choose between.
Until last year Netanyahu equivocated and put up a front that he still supported two states, but that charade is over. Nevertheless, Israelis could still take comfort in the fact that Netanyahu’s press to expand settlements in the West Bank would be moderated by American pressure. But now as president-elect Donald Trump is soon to take office and appears to have given his wholehearted support to Netanyahu’s settlements project, there is no longer anything holding Israel back from permanent occupation and even annexation of the West Bank. Israelis who do not want to face the insecurity that will result from some five million Palestinians living in their country have good reason to be worried.
This is a moment of decision for Israel, when it must decide what kind of future it wants for itself: a Jewish state within secure borders and separated from the Palestinians or a “greater Israel” where peace and security, and even its Jewish identity, are perpetually challenged by a growing Palestinian population in its midst.
We believe that Israel’s peace and security, as well as its Jewish culture, can only be secured by separating from the Palestinian people and giving them their own state. The leading Israeli politician who shares this view is Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid. Lapid said on a television interview on November 12, “We need to remove the Palestinians from our lives… otherwise, there will be no peace. We do not want the two countries to be packed into a single state.”
It is time for all Israelis who do not wish to see their nation descend into that dismal future to get behind Lapid and support him for Israel’s next prime minister. Lapid has grown much in the four years since 2012 when he left a successful career in broadcasting to enter Israeli politics, gaining the maturity and political sense to navigate Israel’s notoriously fractious and unstable political landscape. Recent polls suggest his star is on the rise, eclipsing that of Isaac Herzog’s Zionist Union. A December 30th poll suggests that if elections were held today, his Yesh Atid party would win 27 seats in the Knesset to Zionist Union’s 8. A centrist candidate, he is well-positioned to form a coalition that could unseat Netanyahu and his allies.
We suggest that his effort to unseat Netanyahu should begin by making an alliance with Moshe Kahlon, who is Minister of Finance in the current government. A past critic of Netanyahu’s socio-economic and diplomatic policies, Kahlon more than anyone has seen the cost of the heavy economic investment in the settlements to the rest of the nation, where housing prices are out of reach and municipal budgets are being slashed to the bone. He may see that Israel’s further diplomatic isolation due to the settlements issue will have further negative impact on Israel’s economy in the years ahead. Kahlon may have joined the government thinking he would be a moderating force, but now Netanyahu’s extreme support of the settlements only demonstrates his impotence in that regard.
A scenario in which Kahlon resigns from the government and takes former supporters from his Kulanu party with him (a total of ten seats from Netanyahu’s 67-seat majority in the 120-seat Knesset), triggering new elections, and then joins with Lapid in a new governing coalition, is not out of the question.