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After Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu fired ministers Yair Lapid and Tzipi Livni on Tuesday paving the way for snap elections, a Channel 2 poll has shown what results can possibly be expected from the upcoming voting session. According to the poll, Likud would remain the largest party if elections were held today, gaining 22 mandates. Jewish Home would strengthen to 17 mandates. The third largest party would be Labor, at 13 seats. Yisrael Beytenu would gain ten seats, and the as yet unnamed new party of former Likud minister Moshe Kahlon would likewise gain ten, becoming the surprise of the...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the nation on Tuesday night shortly after 8 p.m., less than two hours after firing coalition members Finance Minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni (Hatnua), effectively disbanding the government. "I turn to you tonight because in the current situation, in the current government, it is impossible to lead the nation," said Netanyahu, saying the impasse is preventing him from fulfilling his role as prime minister. While Netanyahu called it "one of the best governments, one of the most stable governments in the history of Israel," adding it was "a true unity...

Finance Minister Yair Lapid, head of the Yesh Atid party, sought to calm tensions on Sunday, amid reports that the tensions in the coalition are great and that elections are imminent. "I never threatened to leave the government, so this threat is not serious," Lapid told Channel 10 News, adding, “People with interests, members of central committees of parties” are stirring up trouble and trying to block the state budget from passing in the Knesset. "We submitted to the government a budget, perhaps the most social budget we’ve had here in years,” he continued. “Additional budgets to health, education, welfare,...

MK Ofer Shelah (Yesh Atid) on Saturday said that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's handling of the new budget proposed by Finance Minister Yair Lapid could cause the government coalition to collapse. "Netanyahu is turning the issue of the budget into a showdown with the Finance Minister, which may lead to new elections in the near future," Shelah, who is a close confidante of Lapid said at the weekly "Shabbatarbut" event in Tel Aviv. The PM has been at loggerheads with Lapid over the new budget proposals, causing political gridlock; last Wednesday's budget meeting was pushed off to this coming Sunday...

Finance Minister Yair Lapid reiterated Wednesday night the Yesh Atid party's position regarding the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). "The left wants peace at any price and the right is not willing to pay any price for peace," Lapid stated, claiming that, in contrast, Yesh Atid forms the political "center." "We do not deal at all with peace, unless it will be to 'say goodbye' [literally 'to separate in peace']," he added, a reference to his previously-stated opinion that the best outcome for Israel would be a "fair divorce" from the PA. He said the goal is...

An op-ed published in the New York Times on Tuesday by Roger Cohen, titled "My Jewish State" has shed light on comments Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid made during a sit down with the columnist in August 2013. During their chat last summer, Lapid reiterated his lack of interest in Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. Lapid reportedly told Cohen “the fact that we demand from Palestinians a declaration that they recognize Israel as a Jewish state, I just think this is rubbish. I don’t need that. The whole point of Israel was we came here saying we...

Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz (Likud Beytenu) had harsh words for Finance Minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) on Saturday night. Speaking on Channel 2’s “Meet the Press”, Steinitz, who served as Finance Minister before Lapid, said that his successor misled the public and created unnecessary panic about the state of the Israeli economy. Steinitz claimed that the deficit, which is expected to be released in January, will stand at about 3%, in contrast to Lapid’s earlier predictions. "By doing this, he caused severe damage,” he charged. “No top official in the Treasury or in the Bank of Israel ever told...

The Jewish Home party responded coolly Sunday to a thinly veiled threat by Finance Minister Yair Lapid, the head of the Yesh Atid party, to remove the Jewish Home from the Coalition and replace it with another party if negotiations with the Palestinian Authority (PA) make progress. "The person who assembles the Coalition is the prime minister," said Jewish Home MK Ayelet Shaked, "and he will decide who will be in the Coalition." When she was asked by Channel 2's reporter about the negotiations with the PA, Shaked replied, "As we have already said in the past, as long as...

Housing Minister Uri Ariel (Bayit Yehudi) has become a target for left-wing anger. Ariel’s encouragement of housing projects built for Jews in Jerusalem has led various groups to accuse him of trying to “mess up the peace talks.” The latest such project is an initiative to build 63 housing units between the majority-Jewish neighborhood of Armon Hanetziv and the majority-Arab Jabal Mukaber neighborhood. The new homes will be marketed to Israelis. Ariel will be at the site on Sunday for the inauguration of the new project, as will Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat. Leftist activists published statements expressing their frustration with...

Israelis marched late Saturday in an echo of mass cost of living protests in 2011, but this time their ire focused on finance minister Yair Lapid who came to power in January on the coattails of that protest movement. 2,000 people gathered in central Tel Aviv, an AFP journalist said, to protest against an austerity budget due for cabinet debate on Monday. The budget is expected to raise income tax and VAT while slashing government spending, including social benefits. Rallies were also scheduled for Jerusalem, Haifa and elsewhere on Saturday, but local media reported just 150 taking part in Haifa...

YAIR LAPID, a former television talk-show host whose secular, middle-of-the-road party soared into second place in Israel’s election on January 22nd, wrote a popular column for years in the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, in which he would ask, “What is it to be Israeli?” What, in other words, does it take to feel you belong in the Jewish state? The question became his trademark. Now a large chunk of the electorate—a lot larger than the pollsters predicted—has given an answer that may reshape Israel’s future, not least by improving the chance of a durable peace with the Palestinians. Mr Lapid’s party,...

Netanyahu, Lapid Win Israel Elections - Obama Disappointed, US PleasedBy Joel Leyden Israel News AgencyJerusalem, Israel --- January 23, 2013 ... Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has just won a third term. And has done so with greater strength and support than most Israel media are reporting. Even though Netanyahu only secured 31 seats, out of the Knesset's 120, for his right wing Likud Party, he has the full support of a new political party - Yesh Atid (there is a future) led by former TV news personality Yair Lapid. Lapid and Netanyahu only differ in age, their politics are...

Yesh Atid (Future) chairman Yair Lapid shot down on Saturday the idea of forming an anti-Likud bloc with Labor and Tzipi Livni's party, but then gave it his conditional consent. The idea was floated Friday night by Livni in a live Channel 2 television appearance, then seconded by MK Shelly Yechimovich, who heads Labor. .... Lapid wrote on his Facebook page that he would meet Yechimovich and Livni, but added, "I have no interest in joining a 'blocking bloc' because it is not my habit to boycott people and parties." "In the meeting, I will suggest to them that, in...

Yair Lapid, head of the Yesh Atid (Future) party, announced Thursday evening that his party would not join a nationalist government headed by Likud – Yisrael Beytenu. "To all those who asked," he wrote on his Facebook page, "Of course we will not sit as a fifth wheel in a government of Shas and the extreme right." "On the other hand – if we have enough Knesset seats, maybe we can establish a completely different government," Lapid added. "A moderate, centrist government in which we will be able to pass a law for an equal share of the burden, which...

Shinui Chair Yosef Lapid last night. Avraham Poraz and five other Shinui MKs have announced they will resign from the party. (David Bachar)Mercy killing for terminally ill party By Yossi Verter Shinui's 170-member council did a great kindness yesterday to Yosef Lapid, Avraham Poraz and the rest of Shinui's feeble and failing leadership: By their vote, they shortened the party's death and moved up the final blow the party would have received in any case on election day, March 28. The question of whether Lapid and his colleagues will completely abandon politics or set up a new party called...

Last update - 20:19 24/11/2005 Lapid: Name of Sharon's new party resembles Mussolini slogan By Mazal Mualem and David Ratner, Haaretz Correspondents Shinui Chairman Yosef Lapid said Thursday evening that had Prime Minister Ariel Sharon consulted with him, he would have urged him to change the name the latter chose for his new political party. Speaking at a Shinui council meeting, Lapid said that the name "Kadima" (Hebrew for forward) should be changed because it is similar to the Avanti slogan used by fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. The Shinui members who met Thursday did not set a date for primaries...

The turmoil forced Mr. Sharon to put together a new coalition after his previous government collapsed over the issue and he is now relying on left-wing parties for support. Opinion polls consistently show Israelis in favor of the withdrawal plan. Nevertheless, Likud opponents want Mr. Sharon to hold a nationwide referendum on the matter, a move the prime minister has rejected and labeled a mere stalling tactic.

Justice Minister Yosef (Tommy) Lapid issued a warning to rabbis who express their opinion that uprooting Jews is a violation of Jewish law - they may face criminal charges. Speaking at a gathering of the Israel Bar Association last night, Lapid said, "I send from here a warning: there is a limit to the patience of the [legal] system for people, be they rabbis or not, who are seditious, and place kippah-wearing [i.e., religious] soldiers in an emotional bind, and endanger the army." While the minister noted that he doesn't wish to "belittle the pain or sorrow of those who...

Justice Minister Yosef (Tommy) Lapid issued a warning to rabbis who express their opinion that uprooting Jews is a violation of Jewish law - they may face criminal charges. Speaking at a gathering of the Israel Bar Association last night, Lapid said, "I send from here a warning: there is a limit to the patience of the [legal] system for people, be they rabbis or not, who are seditious, and place kippah-wearing [i.e., religious] soldiers in an emotional bind, and endanger the army." While the minister noted that he doesn't wish to "belittle the pain or sorrow of those who...

Yishai says “Lapid needs a psychiatrist” Shas opens new front against Shinui head, accuses him of racism. Denies campaign related to coalition talks and fact Lapid agreed to serve with UTJ.Yifat Zohar Shas Chairman MK Eli Yishai. Shas Chairman MK Eli Yishai has declared a concerted campaign against Shinui Chairman and Justice Minister Yossef Lapid. “I recommend that the minister of health send the chief psychiatrist to examine the chairman of Shinui, Minister Yossef Lapid “, Yishai declared on Tuesday. At a meeting of Shas activists, Yishai said that the campaign would begin in the coming days and continue until...