Journalist turned politician scolds people who post anti-haredi jokes on his Facebook wall.
By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMANYair Lapid 311(photo credit: Courtesy)
His father won 15 Knesset seats by fighting religious coercion, but journalist turned politician Yair Lapid rejected overtures from secularists on Tuesday to lead an anti-haredi (ultra-Orthodox) campaign in his run for the next Knesset.Lapid scolded people who posted anti-haredi jokes on his Facebook wall. He also surprised his Facebook followers by shunning atheism.“Yes, I believe in God,” he wrote.Lapid responded on Facebook to critics such as Kadima leader Tzipi Livni who have said that forming a party would split the Center-Left camp and enable Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to get reelected.“I am not a leftist and I am not part of any bloc,” Lapid wrote. “I don’t remember Tzipi or [Labor leader] Shelly [Yacimovich] having a big chance to win the election before I entered the race. The big question is how to have influence on the national agenda.”When asked why he won’t join Labor, he said, “I am offering something different from what currently exists.”Lapid eulogized Defense Minister Ehud Barak, saying that he had many merits but “he won’t continue in politics after the next election.”He lamented that former IDF chief of staff Lt.-Gen. (res.) Gabi Ashkenazi and former Mossad chief Meir Dagan cannot run for Knesset due to the threeyear cooling off period required by law. Lapid called the law “terrible and shameful.”
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