Miami Herald

As Israel heads back to elections, Lapid stakes out vision as PM

- BY JOSEF FEDERMAN

Israel’s parliament voted Thursday to dissolve itself, triggering the country’s fifth election in just over three years and thrusting veteran politician Yair

Lapid into the role of interim prime minister as he tries to persuade a deeply polarized nation to embrace his centrist vision.

Polls indicate it will be a difficult road for Lapid to defeat his main rival, former Prime Minister Benjamin

Netanyahu, a divisive figure who is at the heart of Israel’s protracted political crisis. The election is set for Nov. 1.

Lapid, a former author, newspaper columnist and TV host, was the architect of the outgoing coalition government – an alliance of eight diverse parties spanning the Israeli political spectrum that was bonded largely by their shared antipathy toward Netanyahu. The coalition ended the 12-year reign of Netanyahu, who was Israel’s longestser­ving prime minister.

As with the previous four elections, the upcoming vote promises to be another referendum on Netanyahu, who is adored with cult-like reverence by his admirers and reviled with equal strength by his opponents. The elections focused on his fitness to lead at a time when he is facing criminal charges of accepting bribes, fraud and breach of trust. He has denied any wrongdoing.

The current government collapsed just over a year after it was formed due to infighting and a string of defections. As part of their power-sharing deal, the current prime minister, Naftali Bennett, will step aside for Lapid, who officially takes office Friday. Bennett will not run in November.

In Israeli politics, no party has ever singlehand­edly captured the 61-seat parliament­ary majority in parliament required to form a government. Instead, the leader of the party who can cobble together a majority coalition with other parties becomes prime minister.

That sets up a de facto battle between Netanyahu, whose Likud party is projected to be the largest party, and Lapid, whose party is expected to be the second-largest but may be better positioned to form a coalition.

Both men are charismati­c and gifted orators with a rare talent for connecting with both large audiences as well as smaller groups. Yet they offer vastly different world views.

Lapid, a secular and cosmopolit­an resident of an upscale Tel Aviv neighborho­od, burst onto the political scene in 2012 by forming his “Yesh Atid,” or “There is a Future,” party catering to the country’s moderate and struggling middle class. Since those early days as an upstart, he has transforme­d himself into a feisty opposition leader and finally a savvy operator who ousted Netanyahu.

He has criticized the outsized influence of ultraOrtho­dox parties and plans on courting Arab voters, if not for Yesh Atid then at least for partners that might join a future coalition.

In fact, the outgoing coalition he helped build made history by being the first to include an Arab party.

Lapid also will be the first Israeli prime minister since 2009 to support a two-state solution with the Palestinia­ns, though he will not be able to launch any major initiative­s during his caretaker term.

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