Yair Lapid
Yair LapidYonatan Sindel/Flash90

Chairman of the Yesh Atid party, MK Yair Lapid, responded Tuesday to the statements of Zionist Union Chairman Avi Gabbay, according to which he would agree to be “Number 2” to Lapid if the move yields more seats.

"If Gabbay chooses me, I will also turn to the Likud because the state needs a national unity government," Lapid said in an interview with Aryeh Golan on Kan Reshet Bet.. "Until then I propose to all Israeli politicians to stop talking about themselves and to deal with substantive issues. There will be elections and the public will decide."

Lapid attacked Gabbay for his statement last night that "the left forgot what it is to be Jews." According to Lapid, "trying to decide for others what it means to be a Jew is outrageous.”

"He said that someone who does not believe in God is not Jewish. What, my grandfather was not a Jew? Why did the Nazis try to kill him? You can turn to the center, but you do not need to reconstruct Netanyahu's worst moments."

Regarding Iran’s attempt to gain a foothold in Syria, Lapid said, "The Iranians are working against us on three fronts - in Gaza, in Lebanon and in Syria - and we must make it clear to them that we will attack wherever their presence threatens us.”

"On the one hand, it is a great failure of Israeli policy - there is an agreement with the Iranians and there are Iranians in Syria. On the other hand, the policy of acting all the time against Iran is correct, and in this case the Prime Minister is right. We must make clear to the Russians that for us, the system of coordination is not valid with respect to the Iranian presence.”

"We need to make the Americans more involved - we are not acting correctly in this respect. The Americans need to know that if they do not act, they will find themselves facing a confrontation they cannot control."