Whatsapp“In the past few years, mistakes were made,” Yair Lapid told Secretary of State Antony Blinken as they sat down in a hotel in Rome for the first time. “Israel’s bipartisan standing was hurt. We will fix those mistakes together.”
Lapid’s attempt to blame all things bad on Netanyahu has been his working mantra for some time. However, stooping even further than before, Israel’s Foreign Minister appears to present Israel as the bad step-child of America. America, in Lapid’s eyes is never at fault and should never be challenged even if like in Obama’s days its policies put Israel directly in harm’s way.
Lapid never faults America for its actions, only those Jews who work for an Israel that can stand on its own two feet. Lapid and his cohorts see an Israel that is a direct extension of America – a 51st State.
Many mistakes were made by Bibi Netanyahu through the years. However, no one can argue that his maneuvering through the Obama years was exemplary and protected Israel without giving up its sovereign rights. Lapid’s argument is really about what he feels is Israel’s place in the world – to be a neo-colony of America – a fortified bastion of Western culture in a sea of “barbaric Arabs.”
Of course, none of this is surprising from Lapid. Years ago, Lapid said to Charlie Rose, “We need to separate ourselves from the Palestinians. It is not marriage that I am seeking, it is a decent divorce.” And why a decent divorce? Because Lapid has said on multiple occasions that he doesn’t want to even see them – meaning the “Palestinians.”
“We need to get the Palestinians out of our lives. What we have to do is build a high wall and get them out of our sight. There will be no peace. We do not want two nations packed into a single state.”
For Lapid, Middle Eastern culture is archaic, tradition is something passe and for him the Arabs and others represent a step backwards.
Unfortunately, Lapid also views his fellow Jews that way. His disgust with Netanyahu is more to do with what the latter represents. It is Bibi Netanyahu’s connection to the Ultra-Orthodox parties and the rightwing of the “settler” movement that bothers him so much. Why? Because these groups, especially those Jews of Middle Eastern decent are a challenge for Lapid.
So it is not Lapid’s yearning to make nice with the Biden administration that causes him to attack Netanyahu, but rather, it is ultimately, that Lapid himself sees everyone who is not unabashedly secular and Western as a problem and a roadblock for his world view to take shape.
The coming inner conflict in Israel is whether we want a state fashioned like Yair Lapid’s Neo-Hellenism or a state grounded squarely in the holiness of our tradition. It is clear that our enemies are praying for us to choose the former, because it weakens us. The real question is, not where Israel’s elites stand, but where does the Israeli public want the country to go. The answer to that will determine the future of Israel.
