Prime Minister Lapid
W hen Yair Lapid became the
caretaker prime minister of
Israel on July 1 — a position he will hold
at least until the next round of elections
scheduled for November — he offered
a simple yet profound statement of his
vision for Israel: “Jewish, democratic,
liberal, big, strong, advanced and
prosperous.” Lapid is a political “centrist.” He is a
secular Jew from the “Tel Aviv bubble”
— something akin to the East Coast or
Beltway elite. His is a patriotic Zionist
who supports the establishment of a
Palestinian state. He believes that the
Israeli economy must be based on
free-market principles. And, despite
very real, existential threats from Iran
— which he pledges to monitor closely
— he does not believe that the whole
world is against Israel.

Lapid’s vision for the Jewish state
is full integration into the world com-
munity while continuing to strengthen
Israel’s close relationship with the
United States. He recognizes Israel’s
responsibility to help lead the world-
wide struggle against antisemitism,
which is also tied to efforts to delegit-
imize the Jewish state.

Lapid’s speech was inspiring. But,
understandably, it lacked a clear game
plan for fulfilling his vision. He is, after
all, working with the same fragile, dis-
parate coalition government as former
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett — a
construct which was largely orches-
trated by Lapid himself a little more
than a year ago, in the then-successful
effort to prevent Benjamin Netanyahu
from returning to power.

In the process of forming the
Bennett-led government, Lapid did
something audacious. Even though
Lapid’s Yesh Atid party had more
elected Knesset seats than any other
coalition partner, Lapid agreed not to
become prime minister and to give
the prize to Bennett, of the much
smaller, ultranationalist Yamina party.

If their government lasted more than
two years, or if their government fell
and Yamina was part of the reason,
Lapid would become prime minister.

That’s what happened.

Lapid is Israel’s 14th prime minis-
ter. He is the country’s first non-right-
wing leader in two decades, and
Israel’s Prime minister Yair Lapid and
France’s PresiIdent Emmanuel Macron at
the Elysee palace in Paris, France.

one of the few Israeli prime ministers
without significant military experi-
ence. And his rise to power was also
atypical. Lapid is a former TV jour-
nalist and news anchor, who many
initially dismissed as an intellectual
lightweight, who lacked the expe-
rience to navigate the complexities
of national politics, and too good
looking. But he persevered. And
he has been remarkably success-
ful. After the 2013 election, Lapid
joined Netanyahu’s government and
became finance minister, only to be
fired along with fellow moderate
Tzipi Livni. He then settled into oppo-
sition until the 2021 election, which
enabled him to be the kingmaker
and chart his own political course.

As caretaker prime minister
between now and November, Lapid
will have the political bully pulpit of
the prime minister’s office. He will
have the opportunity to convince
voters that their future is brighter
with his moderate policies than they
are with the right-leaning politics of
Netanyahu and his political allies. On
that score, Lapid has an uphill battle.

But he has surprised us before, and
he could do so again.

In the interim, we wish Yair Lapid
much success. JE
Johnson gets the boot
T hree years ago, many British
Jewish voters were in a quandary
as they evaluated their political
choices in advance of parliamentary
elections. The Labour Party, which
most Jews had historically considered
home, was led by Jeremy Corbyn, a
myopic antisemite who was hostile
to Israel and was chummy with its
enemies. And there was mounting
evidence that the Labour Party itself
was infected with antisemitism.

The leading alternative was the
pro-Brexit Conservative Party, led
by Boris Johnson, who appeared to
be a Donald Trump knockoff — com-
plete with Islamophobia and impos-
sible hair.

The Brits and the country’s Jews
were spared Corbyn, but they got
the full Johnson. That included
what one commentator described
12 JULY 14, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
as a toxic reign by a man who was
“deceitful, narcissistic, inconsistent,
undisciplined, unethical, unserious,
and indifferent to the institutions
and norms that sustain democracy.”
Johnson resigned last week after a
mass walkout by ministers and other
members of his administration.

Johnson was like a caricature of a
British prime minister: faux populist
and faux erudite. He carried out the
Brexit plan, which seems to be shrink-
ing Britain’s footprint. He scoffed
when the COVID-19 pandemic began,
and the country was in lockdown, only
to end up in the intensive care unit
of a hospital, with a “50-50 [chance]
whether they were going to have to
put a tube down my windpipe.”
Johnson’s term in office was cha-
otic and scandal prone. There was,
for example, “Partygate,” where
Johnson attended parties that vio-
lated COVID precautions while
the rest of the country was in lock-
down, and then lied about it. He
became the first prime minister to
be fined by police for breaking the
law. And then there was the time
Johnson asked Queen Elizabeth II
to prorogue Parliament — that is,
shut it down — during the debate
over Brexit. The queen complied.

But the Supreme Court found the
action to be illegal, and Johnson was
forced to publically apologize to the
queen for embarrassing her.

Although Johnson’s tenure of scan-
dal and controversy has come to
an end, he will stay on as caretaker
until the Conservatives pick a new
party leader, who will become prime
minister. There is a line forming. Most
anticipate that the party will select
someone “a bit less exciting” than
Johnson. And that makes sense.

But what about the Jews? Johnson’s
win over Corbyn and Labour’s antisem-
itism was a big deal. And notwithstand-
ing all of his other problems, Johnson
proved to be a strong supporter of
both the State of Israel and the U.K.’s
Jewish community. So, what’s next?
Although there doesn’t seem to be
an obvious successor to Johnson, the
U.K.’s Jewish Chronicle reports that
Grant Shapps, current transport sec-
retary and the most senior Jewish
politician in the cabinet, is a signif-
icant contender. Shapps had been
one of Johnsons’ staunchest allies and
a frequent fixture on news channels
defending government decisions.

We join our British cousins in hop-
ing for less excitement and more
serious and honest leadership. JE
Photo by Eliot Blondet /Abaca/Sipa USA
editorials