Labor MK tells Lapid: You're Thatcher with hair gel

New Finance Minister under fire for rumored hikes to university tuition; Lapid denies rumors, accuses student union of spin.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, LAHAV HARKOV
Yair Lapid 370 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Yair Lapid 370
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Labor MK Eitan Cabel lashed out at Finance Minister Yair Lapid on Tuesday over rumored plans for an increase in university student tuition fees, branding him, "Margaret Thatcher with hair gel."
The former British prime minister, who died Monday, was known for her draconian cuts to state spending. 
Meanwhile, in her inaugural speech as official opposition leader, Labor's Shelly Yacimovich also attacked Lapid over the rumored hikes.
"You are in control of the government for two minutes and you harm first the students who serve reserve duty in the army? Where is the shame?" Yacimovich said, adding that Lapid was increasing inequality, and turning a university education into a privilege reserved only for the wealthy.
Lapid denied the rumors of the tuition hikes on his Facebook page Tuesday, saying that if the students would be harmed he would "go home and protest against himself myself." Lapid accused the National Union of Israeli Students of creating the rumor, so that he would be forced to deny it and be bent to their will.
"It is a little bit sad that the youngest public representatives in the state are using the tricks of the oldest style of politics,"  Lapid said. 
Deputy Finance Minister Mickey Levi repeated Lapid's denial, saying that, "We're not raising tuition, it's a spin."