Yair Lapid, who is slated to become prime minister on Wednesday at midnight following the final vote for the dispersion of the Knesset, is determined to live in Jerusalem while serving as prime minister.

Naftali Bennett’s decision to continue living in Ra’anana over the past year was fiercely criticized and a source of much controversy, especially since huge amounts of public funds were used to secure his residence.

However, the prime minister’s residence on Balfour Street in the Talbieh neighborhood of Jerusalem is still undergoing heavy construction. An alternative solution was found and Lapid will live in a nearby building on the edge of Balfour called Villa Salameh until the construction is complete.

The building housed the Guatemalan Embassy ambassador’s residence in the 1980s and was more recently used as a temporary residence for former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s security guards.

The building has the advantage of already being situated on the heavily guarded Balfour Street, only 100 meters away from the official prime minister’s residence.

Lapid will move from his home in the Ramat Aviv neighborhood of Tel Aviv to the apartment on the second floor of the villa, a small two-bedroom residence.

ווילה קונסטנטין סאלמה הוא אכן הבית הפרטי המפואר בירושלים וראוי לאירוח שועי עולם ואף נמצא בקצה רחוב בלפור. לפיד עם זאת עובר לווילה חנא סאלמה בבלפור 2, שאמנם ידע ימים יפים יותר כשגרירות גואטמלה בשנות השמונים, אבל הפך מזמן למגורים ארעיים של מאבטחי ראש הממשלה. pic.twitter.com/X7u7dpGklY

— Anshel Pfeffer אנשיל פפר (@AnshelPfeffer) June 28, 2022

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)