Finding himself in the midst of a flurry of media speculation and reports,
journalist- turned-coalition kingmaker Yair Lapid clarified on Friday that
negotiations over government portfolios had not yet begun.
In an apparent
response to reports in several media outlets on Friday morning that Prime
Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had offered the Yesh Atid chairman a choice between
the positions of finance and foreign minister, Lapid released a statement on his
Facebook page urging people to be patient.
“What is happening now is not
coalition negotiations, it’s not even the beginning of it,” he said. “But go and
explain to the political system that it has to wait a month.
“Immediately
everyone claims that he knows someone, who swears that he heard from someone who
knows, who has ties with a senior official, who met a source who... who what?”
Lapid said, describing the chatter as a media “sword dance.”
Lapid
reiterated to the public that he “has not come for a seat.”
“I already
had a seat,” he said, stressing that his party has come “to bring true
change.”
He said that all the issues that were Yesh Atid’s primary
concerns last week, remain so today: equalizing the burden, improving conditions
for the middle class, and changing the political system.