Yair Lapid, the man who would be king, is starting to lose altitude. Just under two months since he announced that he was quitting journalism and entering politics, Lapid is starting to get worn down. And now the polls are starting to show what could be, for Lapid, a long, slow, and painful descent until the country actually heads into general elections, sometime toward the end of the year or the beginning of next year. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Yair Lapid
Will you vote in the next elections?
Will the Israeli silent majority vote in larger numbers in the next general elections than they have in previous elections?
There are signs that it may. Over the past year, it is the silent majority, and specifically, those who consider themselves centrists in their political and economic outlook, which has been most heavily involved in three public campaigns that seem to have shaken it awake from its political slumber. Continue reading
Yair Lapid’s Catch 22
UPDATE: Well, it looks like Lapid has chosen not to join Kadima. I guess that means he’ll most likely fail to achieve anything of real significance in his political career. Pity.
Here’s the original blog post:
So what will Yair Lapid do? Is he for himself, or is he for the greater public?
It seems as if the man from Channel 22 has landed himself in a Catch 22. Continue reading
Inside the Likud’s generational battle
Legislation to bend the legal establishment to the will of politicians; legislation against left-wing NGO funding; laws mandating loyalty oaths, fines against boycotts, increasing the minimum fine against libel, enforcing noise pollution on mosque muezzins, and much, much more.
What’s behind this ‘Assault on Democracy,’ this rush of legislation from the ruling coalition and its satellite parties? Why are young Likud legislators working overtime on changing the nature of the state? On the one hand we want our lawmakers to make laws, but on the other hand, many are alarmed at the rate of the laws being proposed, as well as their content. Continue reading
Poll shows political backlash against religious
Once every couple of months, Israel Radio’s Thursday morning political talk show Hakol Diburim (It’s All Talk) publishes a poll by Shvakim Panorama that tests the political waters in Israel. This week’s poll, coming as it does on the backdrop of intense media coverage of ultra-Orthodox exclusion and abuse of women, is particularly interesting, as it predicts a dramatic wellspring of support for a secular party, should one arise. The poll predicts that should TV journalist Yair Lapid [son of the late Yosef Lapid – leader of the secularist Shinui party] decide to join the political fray and establish a secular party, he would win 15 Knesset seats and overtake both Kadima and Israel Beitenu. Lapid hasn’t stated what his intentions are yet, but this poll will surely give him pause to consider entering politics. However, he could also be thinking that, since elections are only scheduled to take place in October 2013, the country’s current preoccupation with religious extremism will be long gone by then, replaced with another burning issue. As Shimon Peres famously said: Polls are like perfume, sweet to the smell, but deadly to drink. Continue reading
