Yair Lapid is at a crossroads. Some of his ideas/platforms are ones that Israelis all over the political map can relate to/agree with (like fighting corruption and changing the system of government in the ways he outlines). If he runs on these, he can go far and many (including yours truly) would consider voting for him. However, if he reincarnates his father's platform of scapegoating the religious for all the country's ills, then he will be sealing the fate of his political career to a short lived one. The ball is in his court....

Ethnic and cultural divisions are not solved by electoral reform alone. It requires an inclusive civic culture that respects differences and acknowleges both shared obligations and shared rights. Championing the cause of the angry ashkenazi middle class by singling out Haredim and Arabs and by implication the old, the infirm and the needy gets us to very ugly and selfish place.

Sometimes the truth is bitter and hard to swallow. A bad taste doesn't make it any less true though.

Luckily the knesset website identifies which mks served in the army. almost all of shas mks have served. shas voters overwhelmingly serve in the army. And, no, Israel does not belong only to the tel avivians. it belongs to every jew, even those not in israel.

Where are the doctors and scientist who had this "education" ? Aren't some of those shas "educated" in prison ? Good and nice education .

Yair Lapid for Prime Minister, my vote you got!!

SHAS KONTROL! Those were his words and nothing has changed because of the stupid electoral system we inherited from the great idealist, David Ben-Gurion! No money for the needy, the children suffering abuse, the hospitals where people are lying beds in the corridors and even for the IDF but there is always money for Shas and the other Haredim whose aim in life is to leech of the land and cry poverty instead of going out to work , pay tax and serve in the IDF!

His late father (z"l) tried to garner followers with the same melody: If only we did'nt have the Religious Jewish parties, especially the 'radical Sepharads' (well that's shows you that the hate is final when the head of a dynasty passes away) Shas. Well, speaking for myself and may I venture to suggest that people of the same descent as mine Moroccan-Sepharad, are not all that really following any form of Judaism halakhit, but are proud to be represented by people-politicians- who dare to come out from a box where the establishment wanted them to stay: put! Well, Mr Lapid has a lot to learn from the various parties that make up the majority of Israel population. Close scrutiny, he'll come to realise that after all Israel is still a nation in making, and because no party (with the atrocious Ben Gurion's Mapai be the ultimate witness) is independant from its base, ethnocentricity, those voters that actually run the grooup's interest. Sadly, he'll wake-up to this reality and will just revert to be like his late Dad: dreaming for something which is still hard to achieve: a NATION called Israel.

He is running on a platform of hatred and divide the country. He will fail just like his daddy.

A lot of what he says makes sense. True the ultra-ultra-Orthodox have the most to say and do the least (military service, work, pay taxes.) But, truthfully, you don't know who to believe in Israel anymore. The late, great pioneers who made Israel what it still should be are all gone.

He's a demagogue that's for sure but there's some truth to what he's saying. Shas and the smaller ultra parties wield too much power. Remember that it was because of Shas' pivotal vote that we got the Oslo War. Shas is interested in one thing only - taxpayer's money!

have my vote.Like many others in this country we are sick of Shas.We nonreligious people of Israel want our freedom back.

Raising the electoral threshold is merely tinkering with a flawed system. And an "automatic right" by the largest party to establish a government is meaningless if that party can't build a working coalition. Lapid forgets that after the 2009 election the President (Peres) consulted with all the parties before recognizing that Kadima could not assemble such a coalition; that's why he turned to Netanyahu. Why isn't Lapid talking about direct elections of MKs tied to districts? Maybe he dreams of winning a pile of seats based on an electoral list based on his celebrity then "automatically" being asked to form a government.

a change needs to happen. Religious should work within the established parties making a 2 party system instead of the political shenanigans that goes on in this country.

It must be said that it is not entirely their fault but Shas is a political society with a serious deficit of competency concerning Judaism. I am an archaeologist. I also have extensive experience of party political society in England. But I am a Jewish archaeologist and I know that Torah Judaism like that preferred by Shas is magic and not divine. They need to wake up to the Jewish Reform Movement policy on teaching Torah. What is written about GOD's interventions in human affairs from Genesis to 2 Kings is mostly fictitious mythology. A lot of it was composed to manipulate the ancient monarchy. Today! Same shit..... different day. I think Yair Lapid is making a crucial argument and the people of Israel need to discuss his ideas more and more. Because it is utterly bizarre that religious parties in Israel have the kind of frustrating political power they have today. Israel needs constitutional reform and Shas need theological reform.

No more nice talk about Jerusalem belonging to Israeli's without actually saying he won'g give it up or any of his other feel good factor speeches where he promises nothing. Just like his father the only political issue Yair Lapid cares about is haredi bashing, Everybody loves to hate the haredi at the best of times but thanks to the radicals that have been making trouble lately they are hated even more. Who knows if Lapid does enough haredi bashing he may even be the next PM because its a real vote winner. Of course as always with Lapid he has told us what problems he thinks the country has but he hasn't proposed any solutions. Love or hate the haredi there is no denying Lapid is just an opportunist who is good on making speeches.

What is this self hating jew doing in Israel? Him and his supporters can go elswhere. Israel is a Jewish State and as such must lead a life according to Torah. We are not like others Nations . The more we want to resemble them the more they hate us. Non Jews respect Jews who live according to Torah.

They mean that no one hears what the minorities want and then most people become apathetic with regard to politics.

way too long. I think it would be 5 years before we will see the collapse of Yair Lapid and all the leftists. Hopefully less than 5 years we will have the return of King Shlomo!!

I'm a centrist. We both know though that the later bits do seem to be backed up by evidence, especially from Josiah on... even if the stories aren't exactly on the money (deaths, ransom amounts, etc). I have been influenced by Israel Finkelstein in my thoughts on the origins of our people by the way. When I gave his hypothesis though (slightly modified), I was branded an anti-Semite and anti-Zionist. It was very strange.

see what its like living with these people like Shas and company.Its like they want too take you back too the stone ages.Yair Lapid is our only hope for a sane Israel.We want freedom and democracy.Yair has my vote.I was on his tv program a while back,he is a real menche.

Shas educated than State educated,please back up with numbers.

...demonstrate exactly how stupid one can be at the earliest possible moment. Despite the absence of any facts or logic, Adon lapid rolls on, limping along with BOTH feet shoved in his mouth. Forrest Gump's Ima clearly stated,... "Stupid is as stupid does." A very smart lady is Mrs.Gump. Yair is as out of his depth as he can be. But he sees that as a feature. Not a "bug".

Hi there in New York. It is true what you say, the narrative in the Tanaak and in the evident archaeological record from the 7th century BCE does have a greater degree of similarity. It is outrageous that you were called an anti semite. I know the feeling. "We learn from the past that we do not learn from the past" HEGEL Hey everyone....Try this link : http://www.bibleorigins.net/archaeologydatestexts.html

well lets face it with 7 $h-ass MKs so far conviceted of serious crimes including fraud and theft its just a matter of time before the $h-ass cult sets up a permenant HQ in jail lead by the master clown himself Ovadia Yusuf

it is ONLY because of Israel's absurd political system that the Haredim have been able to take control of the country and Bibi has been able to commit it to self-destruction via his suicidal Greater Israel goal. Fix the system so reason can prevail inside Israel, and you go a long way to saving it.

Some people don't like it when you disagree with their beliefs, but I never tell them to abandon their beliefs. I am Jewish, but I resent being called anti-Zionist more than some silly person thinking I'm an anti-Semite as I believe very strongly in our right to the land. The fun thing is that the Canaanite-origin hypothesis, the only one with some evidence to back it up, means that we've pretty much always been in the land in one form or another (to our current knowledge, anyway). (Sorry about the run-on) It gives a much stronger claim than the conquest and pastoral hypotheses (let's ignore Mendenhall's revolting peasants hypothesis as that is just silly). However, some people say that by endorsing such a hypothesis, I am denying our right to Eretz Israel. Very strange.