Yair Lapid and his Yesh Atid party have learned a great deal since he was a novice in Israel’s parliamentary arena in the last Knesset. Most recent polls back the trend seen in recent months and if elections for Knesset were held today, Yesh Atid would emerge the largest party, ahead of today’s ruling Likud party.

Lapid is literally traveling the country and speaking to audiences of all types. Since the election of the current Knesset, he has also been working hard to change his image as being a ‘chareidi hater’ and while chareidi elected officials signal they are not yet convinced, the chareidi voting public may be a bit more forgiving.

There have already been five meetings of Yesh Atid’s young faction with young chareidim, forums set up to exchange ideas and hear one another. This has been done without publicity or fanfare, and while Health Minister Yaakov Litzman continues to view Lapid as being ‘muktzah’, the voting young chareidim may not necessarily share his views. One such meeting involving 30 youths from Yesh Atid was held in the Knesset building this week.

Both sides are already aware that there are issues upon which there will not be agreement but they do believe a workable status quo may be reached to permit living side-by-side in the State of Israel.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)