Lapid
LapidFlash 90

Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid spoke at the opening of a meeting of his faction in the Knesset, in which he called for the Draft Law to be approved in the exact manner in which it was passed on its first reading.

"Yesterday there was supposed to be a meeting of the coalition leaders. The meeting was cancelled," he said. "The explanation for the cancellation was that there was no point in convening the heads of the coalition as long as the Council of Torah Sages did not decide its position on the draft law. They were waiting for their real bosses."

Lapid called on the government to approve the Draft Law. "There is no reason to wait. The haredim are afraid. There's an opportunity here. The draft law can be passed with its current language. Not one word can be changed. The defense minister has committed himself to do this to the IDF, to the Chief of Staff, and to the Israeli public. Not a single word. It's a good law, and it's correct. Many more haredim will enlist. Many more haredim will enter the workforce."

Lapid addressed the call for the surrogacy law to be expanded to include homosexual couples.: "This Wednesday we are also bringing up the surrogacy law. Netanyahu said he is in favor. He made a video saying that he supports it. All he has to do is vote for it."

"Netanyahu has not done so until now, because his only consideration is politics. There is no discussion of values. There is no discussion of what is good for the state, and there are no principles that this government is willing to fight for," Lapid said. "They are so busy with themselves and with their political survival that nothing is working anymore."

Towards the end of his remarks, Lapid referred to the security situation and said, "The Russians are walking all over us in Syria, Yahya Sinwar is walking all over us in Gaza. The cabinet has become a kindergarten in which Netanyahu lost control of the ministers. The budget deficit suddenly skyrocketed. The only thing they continue to work on is to divide us and try to make us hate and be angry at each other."

Lapid concluded his speech by calling for elections: "The time has come for elections. Yesh Atid is ready for elections. I am ready for elections."