Outgoing Prime Minister of Israel Yair Lapid took a combative tone Thursday night in an address to the Israeli public, condemning the new coalition government to be led by Benjamin Netanyahu and promising to fight against it.
The new government is expected to be voted on and sworn in at the beginning of next week.
Lapid made what sounded like a declaration of war against the next government. Echoing Winston Churchill’s words to the British public after the fall of France to Germany in 1940, he declared, “We will fight for the rule of law, we will fight for the rights of women and the LGBT community, we will fight for the values of the IDF, we will fight for the education of our children, we will fight for a tolerant Jewish identity, which is not used as an excuse for discrimination and racism.”
Yair Lapid also called on the Israeli public to act as a form of resistance against Netanyahu’s new government.
“You have a role these days,” he told Israelis, “to be engaged citizens who are not silent. Observe the law, but remind the government every day that you have rights and you are not prepared to give them up. Be on your guard against a dangerous, extreme, irresponsible government with a weak prime minister who lost control of it even before he was sworn in.”
The last dig at Netanyahu was Lapid’s way of saying that his successor is beholden to his coalition partners, to whom he made a number of concessions that included changes to Israel’s laws.
I think Lapid is right and it’s not just political speak. I am nervous as to what is in store. It has been hard enough for women and Israelis who are religious but not Haraedi as it is, without the possibility of more hard-line actions being promoted and accepted.
Politics and religion should always be separated and with Netanyahu’s push for power involving such compromise as it has, he has Israel teetering on a theocratic state.
The week and utterly dangerous governement was with ‘woke’ Lapid! Thank God he’s gone!