JERUSALEM: As a TV star, Yair Lapid's weekly commentary was entitled "Being Israeli" - a rhapsody about the middle-class, politically centrist ranks that he saw holding together a fractious country, with him as their tribune.
As interim prime minister, the still-chiseled but now gray-haired Lapid, who will welcome U.S. President Joe Biden on his visit to Israel next month, may have to reach out more widely to maintain a stable government.
A decade in public service at the head of the Yesh Atid ("There is a Future") party which he founded and in which he has never faced a serious challenger, the 58-year-old has built a solid resume of cabinet roles and statecraft.
Now foreign minister, the centre-left Lapid has also held the finance portfolio and sat in the security cabinet - Israel's decision-making forum on war or peace.
Next week, he will take over from Naftali Bennett as prime minister when lawmakers vote to dissolve parliament and pave the way for the country's fifth election in three years.
In contrast to Bennett's impatience with talk of renewing talks on Palestinian statehood, Lapid has described such diplomacy as necessary for Israel's well-being - but argued that both sides are too domestically hamstrung to pursue them.
On Israel's arch-foe Iran, the two have been in lockstep and Lapid is not expected to change course.
Despite not graduating from high school, Lapid became a successful writer and made no secret of self-teaching with each new government role.
During an earlier stint in Hollywood working for Israeli-U.S. mogul Arnon Milchan, Lapid gained a regard for American power-projection and expectations of a Middle East ally.
In 2005, he wrote a popular TV series, "War Room", whose dialogue and camerawork drew directly from "The West Wing" but whose premise was an Israeli fantasy: a secret unit of elite spies and military officers who handled national crises as professionals, rather than politicians.
But Lapid learned how to horse-trade.
After an unhappy alliance with Benjamin Netanyahu, he teamed up with Bennett to topple the veteran premier a year ago at the head of an unprecedentedly diverse coalition of nationalist, liberal and Arab parties.
That entailed spurning ultra-Orthodox Jewish factions who found themselves in the opposition and whose leaders have long scorned Lapid as "Yaheer" - Hebrew for "arrogant" and a pun on his first name.
Lapid rather inherited that mantle.
His late father, Yosef "Tommy" Lapid, was a Holocaust survivor turned secular politician who delighted in antagonising rabbis. But while invoking the elder Lapid's memory of the Nazi genocide when advocating for a tough stand against Israel's enemies, Yair has been slower to seek intra-Jewish quarrels.
"What has happened in the past few days, what has happened here tonight, is further proof that the Israeli system is in need of serious change and major repairs," he said, standing alongside Bennett at a handover ceremony on Monday.
"What we need to do today is go back to the concept of Israeli unity. Not to let dark forces tear us apart from within."
Reuters
Tue Jun 21 2022
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid gives a statement at the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem, June 20, 2022. - REUTERS
Lubnan kemuka aduan terhadap Israel di PBB susulan pencerobohan darat
Aduan terbabit mengecam pencerobohan terhadap kedaulatan Lubnan dan kemasukan pasukan Israel ke dalam sempadan Lubnan sejak malam 1 Okt.
KRI: Bagaimana pandemik COVID-19 mengubah perbelanjaan dompet rakyat Malaysia?
Analisis ini meneroka perubahan ketara dalam pola perbelanjaan isi rumah selepas pandemik. Walaupun pertumbuhan pendapatan adalah perlahan, isi rumah telah menyaksikan peningkatan yang ketara dalam perbelanjaan berbanding tahun-tahun sebelumnya. Bersama Felo Kehormat, Institut Masa Depan MalaysiaDatuk Dr Madeline Berma membincangkan lebih mendalam tentang landskap kewangan yang semakin berubah dan ketidaksamaan yang wujud di antara pelbagai kumpulan pendapatan.
Banjir Kedah: Tujuh PPS diaktifkan di Baling, tempatkan 199 mangsa
Seramai 199 mangsa daripada 66 keluarga dipindahkan ke pusat pemindahan sementara di Baling sejak malam tadi.
Asas ekonomi kukuh, petunjuk pertumbuhan mampan
Pakar Ekonomi, MIDF Research, Abdul Mui’zz Morhalim mengupas berkenaan situasi ekonomi negara ketika ini, termasuk pengukuhan ringgit serta faktor yang bakal mempengaruhi pertumbuhan pada masa akan datang.
Data & Statistik KRI: Perubahan perbelanjaan isi rumah di Malaysia (2019 - 2022)
Pola perbelanjaan isi rumah berubah ketara selepas pandemik, berdasarkan kajian Khazanah Research Institute. Dapatan ini memberikan gambaran mengenai ketidaksamaan kewangan antara kumpulan pendapatan.
AWANI Ringkas: Fatwa GISBH di Selangor
Ikuti rangkuman berita utama yang menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari di Astro AWANI menerusi AWANI Ringkas.
Ringgit dbuka tinggi berbanding dolar AS
Pada 8 pagi, unit tempatan berada pada 4.2160/2240 berbanding dolar AS daripada paras penutup 4.2185/2250 pada Khamis.
Konflik Asia Barat: Harga minyak lonjak lebih 5 peratus dalam tempoh sehari
Niaga hadapan minyak mentah Brent menokok 5.03 peratus pada AS$77.62 setong.
[TERKINI] Harga minyak melonjak lebih 5 peratus akibat konflik di Asia Barat
Harga minyak mentah global melonjak selepas konflik di Asia Barat semakin meruncing. Pada Khamis, minyak mentah Brent naik 5.03%, menokok kepada $77.62 setong, manakala U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) turut meningkat 5.15% kepada $73.71 setong. Kenaikan ini membawa jumlah peningkatan harga minyak minggu ini melebihi 8%, yang tertinggi sejak Januari lalu.
[TERKINI] Perkembangan terkini evakuasi rakyat Malaysia dari Lubnan
Kementerian Luar Negeri mengesahkan bahawa seramai empat (4) orang rakyat Malaysia telah
selamat tiba di Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Kuala Lumpur (KLIA) dari Lubnan pada pagi ini,
4 Oktober 2024. Seorang lagi rakyat Malaysia dijadualkan tiba pada petang hari yang sama.
selamat tiba di Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Kuala Lumpur (KLIA) dari Lubnan pada pagi ini,
4 Oktober 2024. Seorang lagi rakyat Malaysia dijadualkan tiba pada petang hari yang sama.
Ketua pembangkang Israel seru Benjamin Netanyahu letak jawatan
Israel perlukan sebuah kerajaan yang boleh dipercayai, kata Yair Lapid.
Blok sayap kanan pimpinan Netanyahu menang pilihan raya Israel
Keputusan rasmi akan diserahkan kepada Presiden Isaac Herzog minggu depan.
Politik Israel: Pembangkang siap siaga cubaan gagalkan gabungan
Pemimpin pembangkang, Yair Lapid dan sekutu utama, Naftali Bennet mencapai kesepakatan membentuk kerajaan baharu, menumbangkan Perdana Menteri Israel paling lama.
Politik Israel: Lapid hampir tumbangkan Netanyahu
Ia susulan Yair Lapid mengumumkan secara rasmi kesepakatan dengan sekutu politik bagi membentuk kerajaan baharu.