I usually don’t waste blog posts on things I consider a flash in the pan, but I couldn’t resist this one. You all know how much I hate hypocrisy and Yair Lapid displayed it in spades today. Haaretz tells us that the TV journalist who’s formed a new celebrity-driven centrist party, Yesh Atid (“There is a Future”), wanted to unveil his program regarding the Palestinian “problem.” So he chose to do it…in Ariel:
Lapid said that he had decided to present his foreign policy platform to voters at the Ariel University Center, located in the West Bank settlement Ariel, because “there is no map on which Ariel isn’t a part of the state of Israel.”
So the guy who opposes the Occupation chose occupied Palestine as the site for unveiling his plan to solve the issue. Among the delightful things he said was that he wanted to “get rid of the Palestinians:”
Israel “must at last get rid of the Palestinians and put a fence between us,” he said, adding that “there will be no ‘new Middle East,’ but at least there won’t be three million Palestinians in Israeli territory.”
It doesn’t appear he was advocating genocide or extermination. Maybe not even expulsion (though you never know). He just wanted to make them disappear with the snap of a finger because they’re, well, so damn inconvenient.
Here’s another example of the fresh thinking he’s bringing to the table:
I am no lefty but I do think that the Palestinians brought it upon themselves. Instead of building hospitals they opted to construct training grounds for firing rockets and mortars,”
Is it any wonder that Israeli politics are so bereft of rhyme or reason? People like Lapid are like blind men walking in the dark with candles that offer them no help in finding their way.
My bon mot about Lapid’s Future party is that it has no future. Israeli celebrity political parties are a dime a dozen. Someone comes along every few years on the strength of one idea or one fresh face and takes a jaded electorate and dysfunctional political system by storm. He (it’s always a “he”) wins a dozen seats, enters the ruling coalition, abandons his allegiance to that one fresh idea and becomes just another wheeler-dealer–and promptly disappears from the political scene during the next election cycle.
If we needed any further proof we can look to Lapid’s father, Tommy Lapid, who founded the Shinui party (it even used that magic word “change” in its English language party name). It was supposed to mediate the ideological divide between the far-right Likud and left-wing Labor. It advocated strong secular values and impeding the power of the religious parties. Shinui lasted longer than most flash-in-the-pan parties. I think two election cycles. Then it was gone. Lapid fils will be lucky if he lasts through the election after the upcoming one in January. His party has no discernible principles other than his bright-shining face.
“Lapid fils……”
“Tel père, tel fils” [like father, like son]
At least Shinui had some strong ideas about a secular state, what does Yair Lapid have except perfect teeth ?
“I’m no lefty BUT I do think the Palestinians brought it upon themselves…”
If that’s the correct translation, Lapid is saying that the Israeli left thinks so. What does the right think then ?
Just imagine a “The Jews brought it upon themselves….” which made me think about this interview of Ahmad Tibi by Yair Lapid. Those two guys don’t box in the same weigth class:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_aR9MkvnRk
DY – peace must be just around the corner, I agree with every word you wrote!
You are the best Dear (no typo!) Yassin!
And you are so right that they are not in the same weight class: Lapid does not seem to get it: He just takes and does not give. His responses are all about ‘me, me, me’. He rejoices in the understanding of Jewish suffering that he gets from Tibi, but when Tibi connects this to the need to also feel empathy for ‘the victim’s victim’ there is no response from him. He does not seem to hear it.
And your comment on “I’m no lefty but..” is just hilarious.
Richard, you are mistaken about Tommy Lapid’s Shinui party.
After the party was hijacked by some opportunistics (the second place was taken from the party’s co-founder) so Tommy decided he’s getting out and the party crashed on the next elections.
what he did was to help create the Kadima Party. So yes, the Shinui party did just that – it created a new, center party who mediated the ideological divide between the far-right Likud and left-wing Labor (at least until it was ruined also by the opportunists who jumped on Sharon’s wagon.
and by the way, if you spoke the language you would have noticed that “Yesh Atid” borrows some if it’s name from the Shinuy Party, where it’s official letters (the letters of the voting tickets) were “יש” – the same “Yesh”.
Lapid doesn’t have to do much in order to get the Israeli middle class vote. all he needs to do is demand the same things his father did (secular rights and the demand that the religious ultra-orthodox start contributing to the society as much as they take from it) and he’s bound to get at least 10-15 parliament members.
In this crazy society people go from being entertainers to entertainers (politics). There isn’t a transition stage!
Lapid has not something new. Ethnic-cleansing of native Muslim and Christian Palestinian was proposed by the leaders of World Zionist movement over 100 years ago. As for the “map” part – it reminds me a 2010 news item.
“Danish modern art duo Surrend, known for its political-satire-exhibits – has lined-up Berlin streets with poster titled ‘Final Solution’ – showing map of Middle East less Israel. Instead the Occupied Palestine under the Zionist-regime renamed as Ramallah. The poster was drawn by Jan Egesborg, who is Jewish, and his wife Pia Bertelsen.”
http://rehmat1.com/2010/05/03/wipe-israel-off-map-by-danish-artist/
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How do you see the next Israeli elections shaking out?
More of the same, only worse.
Southerner Truth: “This crazy society…” — you mean a certain federated state that twice elected a mildly demented actor from B-movies as its president (with power much more extensive that the ability to abuse clerical staff)?
Yair Lapid (a.k.a. Vapid Yair) basically markets its ideas to the former electorate of Kadima. Kadima was created by cleaving Likud into nationalistic extremists and those who trusted that Ariel Sharon knows what he is doing — unlike the crazy extremist who may have the heart in the correct place but feeble brains. Now Likud is ruling, the sky is not falling but the government is a bit crazy (in coalition governments that may mean that some ministers really should not be allow anywhere close to young children, larger amounts of money or allowed to speak in public but in the name of a vibrant and rambunctious democracy…). So the “Kadimist” may retain the motivation to stay away from their former mother party. But who is the guy (or woman) who knows what he or she is doing?
You can use indicators that otherwise correlate with sexual attraction, especially that these indicators have evolutionary sense. For example, an assymmetric face may be caused by neurological deficiencies, while a tall forehead proves the lack of microcephaly. Delicately wrinkled forehead suggest some degree of mental exertions (or an excessive time spend outdoors without shades, but Yair seem to be a regular user of sun glasses ). Thus Lapid is a vastly superior candidate to http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=254299 Ziva David who has no wrinkles whatsoever. (The linked article also explains that there are further complications, even if wrinkles can be produced by removing the makeup. She is a fictional character played by a Catholic non-citizen). Moreover, Yair has biceps http://972mag.com/settler-leader-democracy-must-be-dismantled/32401/ that Ziva does not.
“Vapid Lapid.” I like it. It doesn’t rhyme if his name is pronounced in Hebrew. But looks great as an English-language rhyme.
In Israel, he’s oftentimes nicknamed “Yahir Lapid” (Yahir rhyme with Yair and means arrogant in Hebrew)
I observed a piece of news from Georgia (the one which is closer to Israel than USA): a soccer player from an Italian club was demoted to an Energy Minister. (Note to Americans: his previous position was much more prestigious, so this is the case of patriotic sacrifice. Plus, he actually graduated from a university, in history.) We would need to ask some ladies for a more scientific opinion, but http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Energy-Voices/2012/1019/Georgia-installs-soccer-star-as-energy-minister Kacha Kaladze is a hunk. Moreover, until now he was not on record of advocating any particular energy policy, so he will start with a clean slate.
This is something that Lapid should consider. He clearly had political plans for years, carefully cultivating his public persona by avoiding anything controversial. But he should now fill a list with similarly thinking popular personalities and that may be hard, given that Israel is a small country, sport players could nicely fill the list.