As of midnight last night, Yesh Atid party chairman Yair Lapid was officially sworn in as Israel’s new prime minister. He will remain in office until new elections are held on November 1st, 2022. Yair Lapid currently leads the second largest party in Israel’s Knesset and is considered a center-leftist. In the upcoming election cycle, his biggest contender will be Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of Likud, who is planning a massive comeback. He was Israel’s longest serving prime minister, and though ousted by Naftali Bennett one year ago, is now planning to return to the seat of prime minister this November.
Outgoing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has announced that he will be leaving politics, at least temporarily. As he has been the topic of major controversy over the last year, and his popularity has dwindled, his early retirement announcement is generally perceived as his attempt to bow out of his failed political career as gracefully as possible. His party, Yamina, has so far not performed well in early election polls, with some even predicting that it will not pass the minimum threshold to make it into the new Knesset.
With Bennett’s retirement, Ayelet Shaked, current Minister of the Interior, will take over as leader of the Yamina party. Already, she has expressed her willingness to join a Netanyahu-led coalition in the fall, a good sign that the country may be headed for unity, something which has been severely lacking in the last several years.
Yair Lapid can be expected to play his next four months in government as safely as possible, meaning that he will probably not do much for the country on either a conservative or liberal level. He is the one man who came out of Bennett’s government unscathed, and is looking forward to a bright personal political future.
As Israel heads into their fifth election in less than four years, they need our prayers more than ever. Pray that strong, righteous leaders would be raised up who will guide Israel toward being a strong, independent Jewish nation. Pray also that Israel’s Knesset members will be willing to lay aside egos and personal agendas to come together in unity to form a right-wing, governing coalition.
