Yaïr Lapid is taking his chance. The eternal second knife of Israeli politics has established itself as the main rival of Benyamin Netanyahu in the legislative elections of March 23. At the head of his solid center-right formation, Yesh Atid, he has a very slim chance of bringing together a fragmented opposition, exasperated by two years of campaigning and four elections since May 2019.
Mr. Netanyahu only has it for himself. Speech after speech, he pretends to look for it under the podium: “Where is Yair?” “ Mr. Lapid is invisible. He stands with implacable discretion, refusing any “prime time” interview on the major news channels. He prefers to answer on Zoom the questions of hundreds of voters every day, gathered by a well-established militant apparatus. Mr. Lapid refuses controversy and refrains from any ad hominem attack.
Of course, he is attacking Mr. Netanyahu, “The architect of constant tension in Israeli society”, he lamented in a recent online interview for the Tel Aviv International Salon. But, very quickly, he broadens the debate to the threat to democracy posed, he said, by a prime minister on trial for corruption. “Netanyahu has decided to turn Israel into an illiberal democracy. Because, sooner or later, justice will have to drop the charges against him, he accuses. He won’t go to trial. He won’t go to jail. Unless we stop this. “
This restraint pays off in the polls: his party is credited with 19 seats out of 120, against 29 for Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud. Above all, it gives air to other opposition formations. In particular to those who risk falling below the 3.25% mark and not entering Parliament: the left-wing Meretz party or the Islamists of Mansour Abbas. “Lapid’s priority is a set of values that include getting rid of Netanyahu and his cohort. No man, no party can do it alone. We need a coalition for that ”, summarizes the architect of this balancing act, the American Mark Mellman, a consultant close to the Democratic Party in Washington.
Macron as a model
“I am not claiming that I have no personal ambition. I’m rather ambitious… But now is not the time: everyone must understand that they will have to sacrifice something ”, warns Mr. Lapid, the only candidate to clearly favor a change of prime minister over his own candidacy. This humility never ceases to amaze.
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