Pundits abroad can be forgiven for not grasping that Yair Lapid is the leader of the Israeli opposition, granting Benny Gantz the distinction instead. In fairness, even most locals have ceased considering Lapid, whose Yesh Atid Party is the second-largest in the Knesset after Prime Minister Benjamin (“Bibi”) Netanyahu’s Likud, to be a major player on the political scene.
This isn’t only because of his frequent absences from the plenum or sinking performance in polls. Nor is it due to his having been upstaged at anti-government demonstrations by a few figures with greater gravitas and more illustrious military backgrounds.
The root of his irrelevance lies in how ridiculous he sounds every time he opens his mouth. Not that this would distinguish him from fellow leftists whose ideas—in the words of George Orwell—”are so stupid that only intellectuals believe them.”
Still, Lapid isn’t merely idiotic à la Orwell. He’s also grotesquely silly, as was illustrated by his oratory on Saturday night at the weekly Kaplan Street protest in Tel Aviv.
Unfortunately, no description or quotes from his speech at the podium can do justice to the lunacy he displayed, where both content and decibel level were concerned.
Literally screaming at the top of his lungs, he declared war—but not on Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, the mullahs in Iran or the jihadist rebels who took over Syria. No, the focus of his rant was Bibi’s coalition and, by extension, all those who voted for and continue to support it.
Reverting to the topic of the unrest that characterized disgruntled losers in the wake of the November 2022 elections, he regurgitated the lie that Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s judicial reform plans, if implemented, would lead to a Bibi-run dictatorship bolstered by such “messianic extremist” ministers as Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.
The panic aroused by the nonsense was palpable—up until Oct. 7, 2023, that is, when Hamas invaded Israel’s southern border and perpetrated the worst atrocities against Jews since the Holocaust. At that moment, genuine danger from actual external enemies took precedence over internal strife.
Initially, public rage that the massacre had come as a surprise to all those in charge of national security caused outrage among the powers-that-be in Jerusalem. It was under the current government’s watch that Iran’s proxies pounced, after all, regardless of which authority—or decades of poor policy—was to blame.
Within months, however, when Netanyahu stuck to his literal and figurative guns about achieving victory, the tide shifted and surveys (at least those conducted by Direct Polls) began to reflect a sharp rise in trust for his leadership. This didn’t keep the likes of Lapid from doubling down on demands for Bibi’s ouster.
Two vile allegations they hurl to justify their call for new elections—even while Israel Defense Forces troops are fighting and dying in Gaza and Lebanon—are: 1) that Netanyahu wishes to perpetuate the war to “keep his seat;” and 2) that he is apathetic to the plight of the remaining 100 hostages held by Hamas. Despite the best efforts of the dwindling “anybody but Bibi” camp, no sane or honest Israeli buys the bull that the longest-serving premier in the country’s history doesn’t care about dead soldiers or tortured captives.
Which brings us back to Lapid’s weekend tantrum, excerpts of which help to shed light on how the left has lost it.
“They didn’t want us to be in Kaplan today; they tried to cancel our permit,” he began, referring to the Israel Police. “Fifteen minutes after the list of speakers was published, they informed us that the permit to set up a stage here was revoked. It didn’t help them. We came. We won’t give up. We are the majority!”
He bellowed this so loudly that his microphone screeched.
“They tried to stop us because they believe in our power—sometimes even more than we believe in it ourselves,” he went on. “Believe in yourselves. Believe in your power. … If not for you, no one would even be talking about the hostages anymore.”
The chutzpah was mind-boggling.
Straining his vocal cords, he continued, “All revolutions around the world start like this: A group of people comes to the square and asks themselves if it matters, if it will be enough, if anyone cares. The answer is: It changes everything. And if it’s not enough, we’ll do more. If people see that we care—if they see it persistently, despite all the difficulties—they will come.”
He proceeded to caution, “Don’t listen to those who say there’s no chance. Even if we fail 1,000 times, we’ll succeed on the 1,001st. We are the majority! … We will win! Bibi isn’t truly gaining strength. … The people aren’t with them. There aren’t elections because they’re terrified … to death. They are afraid because they know the truth! They know we have … a total, unshakable majority of inspiring people who want to live in a democracy and believe that this destructive government needs to be thrown into the dustbin of history!”
Acknowledging that the path ahead would be arduous, he asked rhetorically, “What social struggle in history was short and easy? What regime change in history was quick and simple?”
Regime change. As if Israel were a version of the Islamic Republic or North Korea.
“We have a mission,” he reminded the crowd. “To bring down the government. It will happen, and they’ll help us do it. They’ll bring themselves down. This is a sick government—a group of people who hate each other, clinging to their seats only because they know that as soon as there are elections, we’ll defeat them. Not just win—we’ll crush them!”
Finally, addressing the government and the rest of the riffraff not in attendance, he shrieked, “You want a war? You’ll get a war! We’re not afraid of you! You will lose; we will not surrender!”
Pretty astounding, coming from someone who’s been pushing to end the war against the genocidal foes surrounding Israel’s borders and beyond. Equally jaw-dropping was his incessant assertion that the opposition constitutes “the majority.”
In the first place, it’s not true. But, OK, Lapid can fantasize about winning a hypothetical election if it makes him happy.
Secondly, as soon as the current coalition was formed two years ago, Lapid and his cohorts, defeated at the ballot box, started claiming that “majority rule” was a dangerous concept.
Indeed, their mantra, which was turned into an ad and plastered on the walls of the Azrieli Mall adjacent to the site of the main “Crime Minister” demonstrations, was: “Democracy doesn’t end with elections.”
Naturally, they would have sung a very different tune had they emerged victorious.
What they don’t seem to realize is that the more they turn their proverbial weapons on the members of society whom they derogatorily dub Bibistim—a slur akin to “Trumpkins” in the United States—the less popular they grow. And Lapid is likely to wind up on the bottom of the heap.