"To say Yair Lapid has been on a roller coaster would be an understatement," states the lead in "The New York Times" interview with Minister of Finance Yair Lapid. It goes on to say, "One recent headline blared about his 'meteoric rise and fall,' another said he had gone from 'political darling to national whipping boy'."
The newspaper says that in the wake of Lapid's austerity budget, which hit hard the people he claimed to represent, polls showed his approval rating plummeting to 21%; fewer than half of those who voted Yesh Atid said they would pick the party again. It adds, "So after months of communicating with the public only on Facebook, Mr. Lapid has embarked on a media blitz, deploying his telegenic good looks and sound-bite savvy. He summoned a series of journalists to an outdoor cafe here on Thursday, wearing jeans and his trademark black T-shirt, and tried to take the long view."
“I’m going to be bashed now, and be the beneficiary of this within, I don’t know, a year or a year and a half,” Lapid told "The New York Times" in his first interview with an international news organization since his unexpected vault into global headlines. He added that still hopes to succeed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but said, “I’m in no hurry.”
"The New York Times" says, "An avowed centrist, Mr. Lapid nevertheless took a hard line on policy toward the Palestinians, the issue that has defined Israeli politics for decades but that was overshadowed by domestic concerns in the recent campaign. He said that Israel should not change its policy on Israeli settlements in the West Bank in order to revive the stalemated peace process, and that Jerusalem should not serve as the capital of a future Palestinian state - an essential part of Palestinian plans.
"Mr. Lapid acknowledged that tens of thousands of Jews would someday be uprooted from what he described as “remote settlements” in the West Bank, something he called “heartbreaking.” But he said that problem should be set aside for now, advocating the immediate creation of an interim Palestinian state in parts of the West Bank where no Jews live, with final borders drawn in perhaps three, four or five years. Palestinian leaders have roundly rejected temporary borders.
"While he described the two-state solution as 'crucial' to preserving Israel as a Jewish nation, he offered no hints of Israeli concessions that could break the stalemate in the peace process. Instead, he repeatedly said he hoped that Secretary of State John Kerry, who is scheduled to arrive here this week for his fourth visit in two months, would 'jump-start' it."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 20, 2013
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2013