Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Wednesday criticized the emerging government led by Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he hopes the new coalition will not "set Jerusalem aflame."
Speaking at a memorial service for Israel's first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, Lapid warned the new government would endanger Israeli democracy.
"The new government wants to destroy our democracy, but we will not give up on Israel," he said.
“I didn’t come to eulogize Ben Gurion today, I came to apologize to him,” Lapid said. “What is happening in Israel today contradicts everything he believed in and the legacy he had left for us. The incoming government that is being formed does not share the first prime minister's beliefs. They do not believe in quality for women and the LGBTQ. They do not believe in political and social equality, and in equality for Israelis who are not of the Jewish faith," he said.
“This is a democratically-elected government but it seeks to destroy democracy Democracy is not only the rule of the majority. It is also protection for minorities from the majority, separation of power, the autonomy of the courts, freedom of expression and speaking the truth," he said.
“The new government doesn’t believe in that, but I want to say here on Ben Gurion's grave, that even if they don’t – we do. We are Zionists and believe the words of our Declaration of Independence. We believe in a Jewish and democratic state and in the rule of law.”
"When the declaration was signed, our first prime minister called to Arab residents in a trembling voice. to maintain the peace and take part in the building of a new nation, on the basis of full and equal citizenship. But the incoming coalition marches to a different and inciteful tune," he said.
"Ben Gurion built the IDF, while incoming ministers incite against the military, its troops and commanders. In the declaration, the holy sites for all faiths must be preserved and protected under the UN charter, but the emerging government disagrees, and we must pray they do not set Temple Mount and Jerusalem, on fire," he said.
President Issac Herzog also spoke at the ceremony, hailing Ben Gurion's statesmanship.
Addressing the Chief of Staff who was also present, he said the military must continue to be a professional and principled force.
“We cannot drag the military into political disputes, and it should not be used as a weapon," Herzog said. "We have one army, working for all of us – and we must keep it safe,” he said.