Lapid Says Forming a Government Will Require Painful Compromises

Yesh Atid leader and former prime minister Yair Lapid said Thursday evening that forming a government would require painful compromises, warning his supporters that they could not expect every political goal to be achieved. Speaking at the party’s fourth conference on November 12, he said a government would be formed, although the process could take time and cause anxiety. “You cannot form a government without painful compromises,” Lapid said. He told the gathering that his camp probably would not fulfill all its promises or achieve all its objectives in the coming six months. He urged supporters to remain focused and resilient, saying relations within his political bloc were better than people outside it believed. Lapid described his preferred sequence as establishing a government first, then repairing, improving and expanding it. He presented that approach as a lesson he had learned from Benjamin Netanyahu, arguing that coalition agreements cannot deliver everything their participants seek. He also defended his partnership with Naftali Bennett and the creation of the Beyachad parliamentary faction, saying he supported the arrangement on both political and values grounds. Lapid distinguished between two separate parties and their shared faction, praised Bennett’s team and said they would continue working together in the Knesset to form a government.