After photo of Lapid standing on a stool to reach a podium goes viral, Bennett, calls on people to "stop talking nonsense."
By LAHAV HARKOVLapid and Bennett at Knesset swear in 370(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Randy Newman once sang that "short people got no reason to live," but Economy Minister Naftali Bennett just wants people to leave him and his fellow diminutive minister Yair Lapid to deal with more serious matters.Tensions were high in recent days between the leaders of the Bayit Yehudi and Yesh Atid because of the former's hawkish stance on peace talks and the latter's push for reforms in religion and state relations.However, Bennett showed that he and Lapid are still "brothers," as he often says, coming to the Finance Minister's defense when a photo of him standing on a stool to reach a podium at a The Prime Minister's Conference Tuesday went viral."Stop with the nonsense," Bennett wrote on Facebook. "Don't stoop so low, otherwise I'll have to bring you a stool."Bennett pointed out that Lapid spoke about minority rights."What did he say? What is his vision? How does he implement? What funds will be used to that end? All that isn't interesting; what's important is that he stood on a stool.The Bayit Yehudi leader, who is currently dieting, admitted that he is heavier than Lapid and the same height as him and he barely reached the microphone at the same conference."This isn't because I'm his friend. In general, I have to say that these recent irrelevant attacks on him hurt not just Yair Lapid but the ability of the State of Israel to make changes in different areas," he wrote.Bennett did not ignore the friction in the coalition, adding that he and Lapid "have ideological arguments that are relevant and professional, legitimate and necessary."
Bennett doesn't need to worry too much about Lapid's hurt feelings, since the Yesh Atid leader showed in the past that he has a sense of humor about his height.In 2011, before Lapid entered politics, a man named Eli Vidal asked the now-Finance Minister on his Facebook page if he stands on a stool, and Lapid answered: "A stool? Me? I stand on a box!"
