Yair Lapid
@yairlapid · Israeli opposition & former officials
Yair Lapid is the leader of the opposition, the chairman of Yesh Atid, and a former Prime Minister.
On August 29, 2024, I appeared before the civil commission of inquiry, and for many long minutes I detailed the warnings Netanyahu received shortly before the October 7 massacre. Among other things, I described how, from mid-2023, there were increasingly more voices within the terrorist organizations saying that the moment they had been waiting for had arrived. I invite you to watch the full remarks
Translated from HebrewNetanyahu received every possible warning that something bad was going to happen before October 7. On August 21, 2023, I was at a security briefing with Netanyahu. The materials I saw there were horrifying and caused me, several weeks later, to issue a statement to the media and warn of a violent escalation. At that meeting, Netanyahu looked bored, indifferent, and unresponsive to what was happening.
Translated from HebrewThe Rabin Center does not need legal arguments in order to refuse to let Itamar Ben-Gvir speak at the conference. Ben-Gvir cannot speak beneath a picture of Rabin, at the Rabin Center, which was built after Rabin's assassination to fight the rise of the Jewish fascism that Itamar Ben-Gvir represents. Kahanism will not enter through this door.
Translated from HebrewTomorrow, Roni Fantanesh Malkai will officially become a member of the Knesset on behalf of the Yesh Atid faction. Roni is an Israeli success story that began with a journey on foot from Ethiopia. She is a lawyer, social activist, media personality, author, and doctoral student in history. Roni has worked all her life to promote and integrate the history of Ethiopian Jews and make it part of Israel’s history. Good luck, Roni.
Translated from HebrewFor a week now, the government has been preparing us for sanctions from Britain, and then it turns out that 10 more important countries have joined it and no one knew. Didn't anyone wake him up?
Translated from HebrewAlongside Britain’s serious and misguided decision, responsibility also lies for another enormous diplomatic failure of the Netanyahu government. This government is leading us toward unprecedented diplomatic isolation and is doing nothing except reprimands and threats that no one pays attention to. Their job is to prevent the decision before it is even born, not to quarrel with the whole world. They do not know how to handle foreign relations; we will fix that too.
Translated from HebrewOn September 20, 2023, three weeks before the massacre, I warned the prime minister at a press conference that this was what was going to happen. I was not the only one. It was published today that the ruler of the Emirates had warned him. Despite all the denials, the Egyptians say they warned him. The chief of staff, the head of the Shin Bet, the head of Military Intelligence, they all warned him. His only response was that he went to Channel 14 to say there was nothing to worry about. If he had fulfilled his role, the massacre would have been prevented.
Translated from HebrewCome on, Smotrich, on the last day of our government the price was 6.85 shekels per liter. When you get close to that, make videos. Until then, you were and remain the most expensive government in the country's history.
Translated from HebrewI just saw quite a few angry tweets about Vladimir Bliak's placement, the Knesset's attendance champion, the man who personally stopped at least 5 billion shekels that the Haredim tried to push through under the radar. I agree with all the tweets. Vladi must be in the next Knesset, and this is really not fair. Just reminding everyone that it depends on them. Yesh Atid's slate has shrunk because it did not receive enough support in recent years. The inclusion of our people in “Beyachad” is an agreement I am happy with, but it is also a challenge for voters. If you give support and strength to the best slate in the Knesset, if you decide to reward those who worked and fought, Vladi will be in the next Knesset. You are the voters, and you decide.
Translated from HebrewI congratulate Avigdor Lieberman and “Yisrael Beiteinu” on presenting the slate, congratulate everyone joining the political system, and look forward to working with all of you.
Translated from HebrewWhat we are presenting here today on this stage is not a list. What we are presenting here today on this stage is not a party and not a faction. What we are presenting here today on this stage is a government. What we are presenting here is experience, the ability to deliver, work plans and a worldview, and the ability to provide an immediate, comprehensive, effective answer to all the major problems and all the major challenges facing the State of Israel. We have come through the worst four years in the history of the state, and not by coincidence, these are also the four years with the worst government in the history of the state. We cannot afford another four years like these. We need a major correction, and we need it quickly. We need people who can fix things, know how to fix things, and will make the correction quickly and efficiently. Those people are here in front of you today. I challenge everyone who hears me, all the media, and the entire political system: you will not find a better, more experienced, more efficient, smarter team, while at the same time young, energetic, and highly motivated. People whom, if you put them tomorrow in any government ministry, you know you will see immediate results. How do you know? Because you have already seen us in action. You saw us as a government. Parties customarily say good things about themselves when launching their list, but we have something no one else has: we have already done it. Even our greatest opponents and slanderers cannot deny that the change government was good, efficient, a well-oiled machine. A good and efficient government is not something that happens in the State of Israel every day. It is a miracle that happens once in a great while, but the change government was such a miracle. What is being presented here today on this stage to the citizens of Israel is the rarest asset in politics: a good government that they know—not think, not guess, and not hope, but know—will know how to manage their lives well and efficiently. We live in an age of lies, but there is such a thing as facts. If the country was in a much better condition when Naftali Bennett was prime minister, then Naftali Bennett should be prime minister. I was there; I saw him more closely than anyone else. I saw how he performed as prime minister in the most difficult, most complex moments, and I tell you with full responsibility: he is the most suitable. I want to use this moment to say something both to Bennett’s original voters and to Yesh Atid voters: difficult times require big decisions. We cannot be occupied with the small differences. Naftali Bennett is a right-wing man, but he is a genuine liberal who opposes religious coercion, supports LGBTQ rights, a constitution based on the Declaration of Independence, and term limits for a prime minister. I am a centrist, and I am also a Zionist, a patriot, a nationalist, and a Jew who believes that our right to the State of Israel comes from the Bible. I believe we are permitted to use force to defend ourselves, and of course I oppose every form of refusal to serve. You need to know how to ignore all the attempts at intimidation and the lies. Naftali will not promote religious indoctrination in your children’s schools, and I will not try to establish a Palestinian state, because anyone with common sense knows that this is impossible. What we will do is return this country to sanity. Together. We want you to pay less for your children’s kindergarten, and we want you not to be in shelters every other month, and we want the Haredim to enlist. And what is more important: we also know how to do it.
Translated from HebrewAt almost every conference and living-room meeting, people ask Bennett and me about his list, because the voters are afraid of “another Silman.” And I tell them, “Wait and see,” because I already know what a wonderful group he has assembled around him in recent years. The list Bennett is publishing today is made up of a particularly excellent group of capable men and women with soul, intelligence and tremendous experience, values, loyalty and friendship. This evening, when you see the two lists merging, you will understand why we keep saying that what we have built is not a party—it is a government.
Translated from HebrewThe list attached here will be approximately 40% of the “Together” list for the upcoming Knesset. Bennett has learned the lessons and brought excellent people with him this round; I stand behind every one of them, but this will be a tightly packed list. If you are LGBTQ+ and want to see Yuray in the Knesset, you will have to fight alongside us. If animal rights matter to you and you want Yasmin to fight for you in the Knesset, your vote may decide this. We talked quite a bit over the last few nights about how this has already happened to us in the past, more than once. We fell, everyone wrote us off, and then we got back up and started over. We cannot be broken; we are here for many more years. The last time they announced in the studios that we had died prematurely, it ended with me calling the president and saying, “Mr. President, I managed to form a government.” That is what we will do this time too. I believe in these people, I believe in our values and our path, I believe in the connection with Bennett and his leadership, and above all I believe that after every descent comes an ascent. The only people who truly achieve something are those who do not give up during difficult times. These are difficult days, not only for us. For the country, for politics that believes in moderation and shared life, for those who insist on dealing with substance. And still, if we want to repair the country, there is no better way than to give these people power. They are experienced, tough, they know how to work, they are doers, and their hearts are in the right place in the world. Tomorrow you will be able to meet all the members of the full “Together” list at our launch event, but before that—these are our names:
Translated from HebrewIn the entire history of Israeli politics, there has never been a process like this—and here is its result: today we are publishing Yesh Atid’s list for the next Knesset. You will read it shortly. You know most of the names. There is no doubt that this is the strongest team in the Knesset; Israel is still a democracy mainly because of them. For four years our members of Knesset fought, under impossible conditions, against an oppressive majority. They stood up against the judicial overhaul, against a coalition that destroyed the country, and against vicious briefings from both sides. They are professionals, tough, and experienced. They were the home and the address for the families of the hostages; they burned the midnight oil in committees, marched in the streets, spoke at demonstrations, and wept with bereaved families. Although the government had an enormous majority, although the opposition was small and divided, they stopped the draft-dodging law, most of the judicial-overhaul laws, the attempt to erase the Supreme Court, and the transfer of billions of shekels to extortionists and corrupt people. The process of building the list that we went through is unprecedented. This is the saddest moment but also the most inspiring one I have experienced since entering politics. I have no intention of pretending that everything is fine. This process broke my heart more than once. I hated every moment, but I love these people more than ever. They are my friends; they are my family. Never, in the entire history of Israeli politics, has there been a process like this. In other parties they make hit lists, leave in anger, and file lawsuits. In other parties people wake up in the morning and discover through the media that they will not be in the Knesset. We are not like that. We built a different culture, based on friendship and trust. We turned the difficulty into an opportunity. The party reinvented itself; the founding generation embraced the next generation and said to it: we believe in you. Over the past two weeks I said to each and every one of them: we are not ignoring reality. We all understand that Yesh Atid will shrink significantly in this round. It will hurt many of you. Each person will have to decide for themselves how to get through it. I will accept anyone who is angry with me, slams a door, or tells me that it is all my fault. They answered: this is the hardest test we have faced, but we will get through it together. This is not a dismantling; it is rebuilding. Contrary to everything the cynics wrote and said, the past week was actually a display of strength. This is what a tough group looks like, one that knows how to get through difficult weeks together in order to build a better future. Winning groups know how to reinvent themselves. That is what we did. Only those who know how to get through the bad days will be there on the good days. It does not look that way right now, but we know the truth: not only did we show the people of Israel that things can also be done differently, we also guaranteed this week that we will be part of the country’s leadership for many years. I do not know whether you read the farewell messages from the party’s founders, Meir Cohen and Mickey Levy. If not, you owe it to yourselves. What they wrote was a marvelous lesson in generosity, loyalty, and giving credit to others. They said: “The time has come for a change of generations in the party, the time has come to build the coming years, we are lovingly making room for our place on the list.” They also said: “We are staying with you, we are not abandoning you, we will work in the election campaign, we believe in Yair and in this party.” Read Karine Elharrar’s message. The strongest woman I have ever met. “Go,” she wrote, “give it everything and win the most important election there is. Bring the change.” That same night, after she released the message that she would not run this time, she held a packed living-room meeting in Jerusalem. She persuaded them, one by one, to vote for us. Read the moving messages from Debbie Biton and Tania Mazaraski. Think about these strong women, who established Yesh Atid headquarters in Sderot and Karmiel, who were never afraid to argue, who never wavered on liberal values. When they announced that they would not run for the Knesset, one headline cried, “Another departure from Yesh Atid!” They called me, hurt: “They did not even bother to read our message to the end,” they said, “after all, we said explicitly: we are staying in Yesh Atid, we believe in you and in the team, and we will fight in the election so that ‘Together’ wins.” And Michal Shir wrote: “I will continue with all my strength to help ‘Together’ and Yesh Atid. I am staying and supporting.” Where else do people speak like this?
Translated from HebrewYou need to know how to read prime ministers' schedules to understand what is written here: 1. There is no such thing as an hour for “preparing the prime minister's convoy.” I was prime minister; the convoy is always ready to leave immediately, with a few minutes' notice. 2. Netanyahu did not speak with the IDF chief of staff or the Shin Bet chief before 9:55 — more than three hours after he was woken up. 3. Netanyahu did not summon the air force commander. He did not speak with heads of localities or local councils.
Translated from HebrewAt this very moment, the wonderful Karin Elharrar is hosting a packed home gathering in Jerusalem, persuading people one by one to vote for us. The main thing is that the media wrote, "Another departure from Yesh Atid"
Translated from HebrewKarin, there are people you meet along the way, and there are people who become part of the way itself. You are one of them. For years you were a true fighter for the public. Always professional, always determined, and above all, always guided by a clear moral compass. Even in difficult moments, you knew how to stand your ground, fight for what you believe in, and not be afraid to tell the truth. Your work in the Knesset, in the government, and in Yesh Atid left a real mark. But beyond all the positions and achievements, I want to thank you for the friendship, for the journey we shared, and for all the moments when I knew I could count on you. You have been with Yesh Atid since day one, and you will always be part of this family. I love you!
Translated from HebrewSomething about the media and also about fairness. In recent days, five members of Knesset from Yesh Atid announced that they would not run in the next elections. Meir Cohen, Mickey Levy, Karin Elharrar, Debbie Biton and Tania Mazaraski. All five issued formal statements in which they emphasized: “We are not leaving Yesh Atid. We are staying members of the party. We believe in the path and in the people; we will continue to work and do everything we can to help in the election campaign.” In all five cases, the media ran headlines: “They are abandoning Yesh Atid.” Except that they are not abandoning it. They stayed in Yesh Atid, emphasized that, and meant it as well. They are part of us. They are staying in the family. I cannot think of any other party where such a process took place. I also do not want to try to guess why the media keeps repeating a headline that is factually untrue and needlessly hurts both them and the party. So I want to take this opportunity to say to them once again: thank you for what was, thank you for staying part of us, and thank you for what is still to come.
Translated from HebrewThe nuclear agreement between the United States and Saudi Arabia, which was submitted this week for congressional approval, is one of the greatest and most dangerous failures of Israeli foreign policy of all time. The Trump administration is doing what it considers right for American interests, but this agreement will become a symbol of the collapse of Israel's influence in Washington. A similar agreement was on the table during the period of the change government, and Bennett and I stopped it. The current agreement allows uranium enrichment on the soil of an Arab state that has repeatedly expressed interest in military development. The Israeli demand for normalization and the expansion of the Abraham Accords is not mentioned at all. The agreement will cause additional Arab states to decide to enrich uranium, including some that act against Israel and already have nuclear reactors operating on their territory today. This is a diplomatic disaster. The Netanyahu government is once again abandoning Israel's security.
Translated from HebrewTogether, we are returning to the Declaration of Independence. Before 7.10, we reached the brink of civil war. We need to return to the broadest Israeli consensus - the Declaration of Independence. In the next government, we will enact the Declaration of Independence as the preamble to the country's constitution.
Translated from HebrewAll of Netanyahu’s mouthpieces have hysterically returned in recent days to the nonsense that “they didn’t wake him up.” Unlike them, I am one of the few people who met Netanyahu on October 7. I sat with him at four-thirty in the afternoon; I know everything that happened there, so I can ask: And when they did wake him up? What did he do? So here is the reason Netanyahu is doing everything to torpedo a state commission of inquiry, and here is the reason we will establish one in the first month of the next government: because the testimony is unequivocal: Until four-thirty in the afternoon Netanyahu barely functioned, and he did not initiate a single move. Everything is documented, everything is in the protocols he is desperate to hide. The army proposed actions and he approved them without argument. Nothing came from him. No proposal, no move. He did not speak with the communities, did not move a single brigade, did not issue a single order, did not manage a single operation, did not suggest going south even once, and did not order the evacuation of a single community. Netanyahu said this week that if they had woken him up, he would have “activated the Air Force, activated the entire IDF.” Really? And when they woke you? What did you activate? What did you do other than say “yes, yes” every time the commanders you are now vilifying proposed courses of action? What did you do other than speak with the prime minister of the Netherlands (yes, he found time for that on that day) and tell me that you were unwilling to remove Ben Gvir from the government and establish a national-unity government? The prime minister’s surroundings are recorded, and the people who were with him that day—including me—saw and heard everything. I invite all of Channel 14 and all the other mouthpieces to answer the question: Apart from approving the instructions that the heads of the security organizations gave their people, who fought with courage and heroism, tell me one operational thing Netanyahu initiated on October 7 after they woke him. One!
Translated from HebrewI am proud of Yesh Atid. In other parties there are hit lists and lawsuits, with us there is respect and love
Translated from HebrewDear Tania, we will continue working together, and continue fighting together for the values, and the entire Yesh Atid family is always with you and full of gratitude for the amazing path you have taken in the Knesset, especially in the fields of health. As you wrote, this is absolutely not a goodbye. One does not part from family.
Translated from HebrewDear Debbie, beloved princess of Sderot, who taught us all how to turn difficulty into strength and pain into an inspiring journey. We will always continue together, and thank you not only, but also Haim, Ziv, Mor and Noam. We are not parting today; we are beginning another chapter.
Translated from HebrewMy conversations with the generation of the party's founders, first Meir and then Miki, are the most moving I've ever had in my life. What is happening here is something that never happens in politics - Miki is staying in Yesh Atid, has agreed to my request to serve as head of its party court, and will work in the election campaign until victory, but he decided to make way because the list should be led by the party's next generation. He and Nurit have always been and will always be close friends, and the bond between us is stronger than ever.
Translated from Hebrew
Connected stories
- UAE Leader Warned Netanyahu of Hamas Move Before October 7, Report Says
- Bennett Says He Knows UAE Warning to Netanyahu Was Genuine
- Smotrich Signs Two-Month Fuel-Tax Cut, Lowering Gasoline to NIS 7.75
- Lapid Unveils Yesh Atid’s 15-Candidate Slate for Bennett Alliance
- Yisrael Beiteinu Publishes Its 25-Candidate Knesset Slate
- Bennett Publishes 20-Candidate B’Yachad Slate for October Election
- Netanyahu Did Not Request IDF Chief Call Before 9:45 on October 7, Report Says
- Netanyahu’s Office Says He Ordered Full Mobilization at 9:55 on October 7
- Mickey Levy Will Not Run on Yesh Atid’s Next List, Will Head Party Court
- Netanyahu Says October 7 Would Not Have Unfolded the Same Had He Been Awakened