Yesh Atid party Chairman MK Yair Lapid was interviewed by the Srugim dati leumi website, and it was during this interview in which he announced his party represents an alternative to the Bayit Yehudi party for dati leumi voters.

Regarding Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Lapid told Srugim “He does everything possible to protect his personal interests”.

Lapid repeatedly emphasizes that “something happened to Netanyahu.” In a series of questions about the relationship between the two, he says: “Netanyahu has an erosion in decision making and behavior, he approaches everything out of his personal interest.”

“I was never an automatic Netanyahu fanatic,” he clarified, but he is dependent on the investigations and the long term of office. “In the end, it’s a role that is being played and it’s doing it for more years now, and now it’s right for him to do other things, it’s not good for the State of Israel.”

SRUGIM:

But he has successes that he does not think can be disputed: the transfer of the embassy to Jerusalem, the bombing in Syria, the cancellation of the nuclear agreement with Iran – your positions are a bit less clear on the matter. Maybe he’s not as bad as you describe him?

LAPID:

I respect him for his successes, but a country needs to know when to move forward as do people. He can barely ignore Netanyahu’s recent words: “He had an excellent sequence now, a moment he can look now – maybe it’s time to move on,” and notes that during the transfer of the embassy he gave him credit on television and on the Knesset stage.

You cannot run a country if you do not know how to run a team that works around you if you do not trust anyone and think about the next press conference.

SRUGIM:

So, this is the biggest compliment we can get from you on Netanyahu?

LAPID:

“I have been with him for many years in friendship, a talented man, intelligent and educated, and I also have good things to say about him and I have very good relations with his wife.

SRUGIM:

When Lapid says he is to the right of Netanyahu, he is referring to the use of force in Gaza.

LAPID:

I know Israel’s power in all its forms and it is often found directly from the government.

On the kite terror on the Gaza border in the last month…

LAPID:

It is inconceivable that a country that knows how to launch satellites into space cannot handle kites.

Regarding the humanitarian situation in Gaza…

LAPID:

It does not mean that we are guilty. Hamas is guilty and only it is not too aesthetic that I am not addressing the humanistic side vis-à-vis the Gaza residents. I am interested in the welfare of the State of Israel, and this means that it is not good for us to have a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

SRUGIM:

Was the Bennet Lapid team experience a failed effort on your part?

There are already people today, and I meet with people who by definition are Bayit Yehudi voters. I am following with great interest the processes impacting the dati leumi community.

Look at us. We are an alternative for we are a party that defines itself as being Jewish and Israeli, and this has been our nature since day one.

Lapid is back in 2013 and says that the Ben-Lapid alliance was an important attempt that failed, and to this day it saddens me, and that does not mean that I gave up.

I don’t rule out sitting with any Zionist party. Therefore, I don’t rule out going back to Bennet and Yesh Atid. This time around, we expect more votes from the liberal dati leumi voters, those who don’t feel at him in Bayit Yehuda. We are the ultimate alternative.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)