Lapid: Yesh Atid will lead center bloc; we will defeat Netanyahu
Yesh Atid chairman says PM 'has no plan', 'failed to bring security'; calls for separation from Palestinians before it's too late.
Former finance minister Yair Lapid vowed Monday to send Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu packing when he faces off against a center bloc helmed by Lapid at the upcoming elections.
“Yesh Atid will lead the center bloc,” Lapid said at a conference held by Globes newspaper. “We will connect with other parties to replace the current leadership and continue with full force, exactly from the place where we stopped. Everything is ready.”
Lapid denounced Netanyahu’s approach to security, saying point-blank that the prime minister “failed to bring security.”
While much of the speech focused on the government’s refusal to enact social reforms, Lapid spoke forcefully against the current status quo in regard to the Palestinians.
“There is no plan, there is no diplomatic horizon that anyone can understand, and there isn't the courage to take decisions when the only thing that concerns him is what the Likud Central Committee will say,” he said.
“Four million Palestinians live among us. Israel cannot absorb them and remain Jewish and Zionist. Time is running out for us to separate from them because every year they increase in number, they become more religious, more frustrated and more dangerous to Israel's security.”
He asserted that stagnation posed a huge danger. “Netanyahu won't do anything because that has become his default position. Israel's security is dependent on our ability to take the initiative, not to wait until there is no choice.
“We need to go to a regional process with the Arab League to reach an agreement which will lead to a separation from the Palestinians.
“If we don't, our security will be harmed, our economy will be damaged and the entire Zionist project will be in danger.”
Lapid’s criticism was by no means limited to questions of security. He questioned whether Netanyahu had even read the proposed bill for zero-VAT on some housing, despite first voting for it and then working against it.
Lapid further accused the prime minister of flip-flopping, suddenly proposing VAT exemptions on food under supervision, merely a month after opposing supervision on food.
