Yair Lapid
Yair LapidYoav Dudkowtiz/TPS

Opposition leader MK Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) on Wednesday spoke at a Calcalist conference about the day after the war in Gaza ends, promising that he would ensure that Israel will have a constitution which will be a "basis for mutual life."

"After the elections, Israel will begin 2025 with a new government," he promised. "It won't just be that the composition is different."

"The essence will be different. This will be an Israeli government that truly serves its citizens, that really plans ahead, a functioning government which will express our enormous need for a change in national priorities."

He added, "Today, the State of Israel has a government which is too large, and an army which is too small. In 2025, it will need to be the reverse. We will have a much smaller government, and a much larger army."

"The tragedy which hit us has taught us something: If we do not make a deep, real change, Israel will deteriorate into a third-world country. We thought we had problems. It turned out that they were not problems - they were existential threats."

"Above all else: We will write a constitution. We will not continue to be a divided, polarized, and hateful society. We saw what horrific results the divisions between us bring. We will aim for a founding process which will give us a shared ethos, shared good, a basis for shared life."

In the past, Lapid has been accused of turning the haredi community into enemies of the rest of the country, and de-legitimizing the needs of the haredi community.