AFP
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NOS News•today, 11:42
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Ties Brock
correspondent Israel/Palestinian territories
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Ties Brock
correspondent Israel/Palestinian territories
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The Israeli parliament has dissolved itself, paving the way for new elections to be held on November 1. It is the fifth election in more than three years.
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The dissolution of parliament comes a day before the country gets a new prime minister. Yair Lapid will take over from Naftali Bennett at midnight and will remain in office at least until the election.
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It was already agreed that he would become prime minister when he, together with Bennett and six other party leaders, forged a colorful coalition more than a year ago to thwart former Prime Minister Netanyahu. The plan was that the Liberal Zionist Lapid would take over from the right-wing nationalist Bennett after two years, but the fall of the government that gained momentum last week. After the dissolution of parliament today, he is the new head of government.
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Celebrity
For Israelis, Yair Lapid has been a well-known figure for many years. “He was actually already born as a celebrity,” says political analyst Dahlia Scheindlin. “In his youth he taught everyone in the scene of Tel Aviv.” His father was a well-known journalist and politician, his mother was a writer.
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Lapid didn’t finish school, didn’t make a career in the military, but he rose quickly in the media world. He had his own talk show on Friday evenings and also presented the news. In addition, he wrote about ten books and had a short career as an amateur boxer. “A allround-celebrity“, Aldus Scheindlin.
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About ten years ago, Lapid, like his father, took his first steps in politics, and with success. He mainly appealed to the secular middle class voters in and around Tel Aviv and entered parliament with his party Yesh Atid (Hebrew for ‘there is a future’). The biggest criticism was that he didn’t really stand for anything, but his party proved to be a keeper with a program in the middle of the political spectrum.
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This is how it went in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament:
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Israel parliament dissolved, new prime minister and elections approaching
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Palestinian issue
In theory, Lapid favors a two-state solution with a Palestinian state alongside Israel, although the Palestinian issue is not a high priority for him. Also last year, during the government in which he participated, there were no significant initiatives to break the conflict and the occupation of Palestinian territory.
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Also with his economic ideas he keeps the middle ground between left and right in Israel. He does take a position in the field of religion and the state: he wants to limit the influence of the rabbis on politics. For example, he is in favor of public transport on the Jewish day of rest., but partly because of conflicts with religious coalition partners not much came of major reforms in the past year.
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During the last three turbulent years, with no fewer than four parliamentary elections, Lapid managed to further strengthen his name. “He has made strides as a politician,” says analyst Scheindlin. “He proved adept at the political game, keeping his party together and forging unlikely alliances, even including an Arab party in the coalition for the first time in decades.”
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Now that that rainbow coalition has fallen apart, Lapid is taking over from Bennett. But what can he do in the coming months as head of a toothless government? “Not much,” said Amir Fuchs, a researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute. “He can’t come up with big plans or new policies, but he can work on his image as a statesman.” For example, Lapid will receive US President Biden next month when he visits Israel.
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Netanyahu
Perhaps with such photo opportunities he can build a prime minister’s bonus to catch up on former prime minister Netanyahu. The right-wing Likud leader currently leads all polls despite a criminal case pending against him for bribery and fraud. Lapid appears to be the main asset of Israelis hoping to avoid Netanyahu’s return.
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Whether the elections will yield a clear winner is highly questionable. Although the election date is still a long way off, according to the latest polls, another stalemate could emerge, with neither Netanyahu and his opponents gaining a majority. Prime Minister Bennett is in any case no longer participating in the elections; he announced yesterday that he would withdraw from politics.
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