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Lapid launches campaign with stinging attack on rivals
Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid launched his party’s election campaign in Tel Aviv yesterday with a fiery speech in which he condemned his political rivals for corruption and pledged to fight the phenomenon.
Outlining his general message, Lapid declared “Enough of the corrupt politicians, we are sick of them stealing our country. Give us back our country!” He claimed that for “Two years we [Yesh Atid] held back the tide” of corruption. Lapid took personal aim at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, referring to a number of controversies surrounding his household expenses paid for with public money. Lapid said, “Corruption is when a politician uses public funds to deliver pistachio ice cream to his home and transfer garden furniture to his Caesarea villa.”
Lapid then mentioned the ongoing high-profile corruption investigation into Yisrael Beitenu Deputy Minister Feina Kirshenbaum and dozens of other officials linked to the party. However, he said that corruption is also about “the violation of the most basic contract between the State of Israel and its people.” In this regard, he accused the Labour Party of having not voted in favour of a bill to increase ultra-Orthodox military conscription, “to get close to the convicted felon [Shas leader] Aryeh Deri.” Lapid also said that Jewish Home is “a sectorial party which looks only after itself and its settlements and its institutions.”
In response, a Likud statement said “One doesn’t judge an irrelevant party in its moment of weakness.” Meanwhile, Labour MK Stav Shaffir said that Lapid “as finance minister transferred funds each morning to [the West Bank settlement of] Yitzhar. Where were you?” She said that instead of “stopping the corruption in Jewish Home… you gave this dirty method a kosher stamp.”
In other campaign news, respected economist Prof Manuel Trachtenberg joined the joint Labour-Hatnuah electoral list in 16th spot and if elected, will serve as Finance Minister. Trachtenberg headed a committee to formulate solutions to Israel’s cost of living issues in the wake of huge protests in 2011.