Yesh Atid leader Finance Minister Yair Lapid has already shown that he has no problem being in Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s face. Quite the contrary, amid polls showing Yesh Atid dropping in the polls, Lapid seems anxious to flex his party’s political muscle against Likud. Last week’s announcement  that the government plans to move ahead with 1,400 new housing units did little to impress Lapid, who stands firmly behind Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and her ongoing efforts to cut a deal with the PA (Palestinian Authority).

Lapid explains “the announcements are not announcements of building tenders, but more accurately unilateral declarations of construction which will not be actualized. It is not just a bad idea, but Yesh Atid will do its utmost to ensure they remain ideas that are never actualized.”

For Lapid, too many of the planned housing units are over the Green Line and in chareidi communities including Betar Illit, Emanuel and Ramat Shlomo.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)