Yair Lapid apologizes for joke about ‘undisciplined’ women

Lapid was speaking about the lack of women in his party and asked retired IDF General Orna Barbivai to stand up. When she declined, he joked that the women who support him are “undisciplined."

MARCH 4, 2019 11:51

Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM) — Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid

(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)

Blue and White Party co-leader Yair Lapid apologized on Twitter “to all the women who were offended; it was a bad joke” regarding his statement about his party having “few women and those we do have are undisciplined.”

Lapid was speaking about the lack of women in his party on Sunday and asked retired IDF General Orna Barbivai to stand up. When she declined, he joked that the women who support him are “undisciplined.”

Lapid originally explained the lack of women in the party as due to technicalities, but when he asked Barbivai to stand up and she refused he added, “You get it? She’s told to get up and she doesn’t.”

Meretz leader Tamar Zandberg was quick to respond, saying, “What good are two women in the top 10 party leaders if we can’t control them?”

Her comment was related to a previous comment made by Culture Minister Miri Regev, who said, “What good is a free media if we can’t control it?”