From popular TV anchor to PM hopeful

JERUSALEM • When Mr Yair Lapid founded the centrist Yesh Atid (There is a Future) party in 2012, some dismissed him as the latest in a series of media stars seeking to parlay his celebrity status into political success.

But Yesh Atid finished second with 17 seats in the March elections, Israel's fourth inconclusive vote in less than two years. On Sunday, Mr Lapid convinced nationalist hardliner Naftali Bennett to join him in building a coalition Cabinet that could end Mr Netanyahu's 12 consecutive years in office.

A former television anchor once known largely for his chiselled good looks, Mr Lapid is the Tel Aviv-born son of the fiercely secular former justice minister Yosef "Tommy" Lapid, another journalist who left the media to enter politics. The younger Mr Lapid's mother Shulamit is a novelist, playwright and poet.

An amateur boxer and martial artist who has also published a dozen books, Mr Lapid was a newspaper columnist before becoming a presenter on Channel 2 TV, a role that boosted his stardom. He once featured on lists of Israel's most desirable men.

In the 2013 polls, the fiercely secularist and centrist Yesh Atid claimed a surprising 19 seats in Israel's 120-member Parliament, establishing the party as a credible force in politics.

It joined the centrist Blue and White coalition formed in 2019 under the leadership of former military chief Benny Gantz. Blue and White then battled Mr Netanyahu's right-wing Likud in three elections in less than a year.

When Mr Gantz decided last spring to enter a Netanyahu-led coalition, citing the need for unity as the coronavirus pandemic was gathering pace, Mr Lapid bolted.

He accused Mr Gantz of breaching a fundamental promise Blue and White had made to its supporters: that it would fight to oust Mr Netanyahu.

In an interview with Agence France-Presse last September, Mr Lapid said Mr Gantz had naively believed that Mr Netanyahu would work collaboratively within the coalition.

"I told (Gantz), 'I've worked with Netanyahu. Why don't you listen to the voice of experience... He is 71 years old. He is not going to change'," Mr Lapid said.

After exiting Blue and White, Mr Lapid took his seat in Parliament as head of Yesh Atid and leader of the opposition.

He described the short-lived Netanyahu-Gantz unity government as "a ridiculous coalition", in which Cabinet ministers who disliked each other did not bother to communicate.

He also predicted the coalition would collapse in December, which it did, amid bitter acrimony between Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gantz.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE