Israeli News Anchor Yair Lapid To Enter Politics
Veteran Israeli journalist Yair Lapid has left his job as a television news anchor to enter politics.
It is expected that Lapid, who made the announcement Sunday, will form his own independent party with a liberal bent.
Lapid left his job at Israel’s Channel 2, with no election on the horizon, just days before the Knesset Law Committee is scheduled to vote on a bill that would institute a six-month to one-year cooling-off period for journalists before they can get elected. It has been nicknamed the Yair Lapid Bill.
Lapid also has a weekly column in the Yediot Acharonot daily newspaper.
Lapid’s late father, Yosef (Tommy) Lapid left journalism to head the liberal-secular Shinui Party. His mother is author Shulamit Lapid.
Polls have shown that a Lapid-led party could garner the second most votes in a Knesset election, behind Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, and that it would likely take the most votes away from the Kadima Party.
Several current members of Israel’s Knesset are former journalists, including the current chairman of the Labor Party, Shelly Yachimovich.
Meanwhile, Noam Shalit, father of Gilad Shalit, who was released from captivity in Gaza in October, announced Monday that he would run for a place on the Labor Party list for the next Knesset elections.
“Following years of a public battle, during which I got to know Israel society deeply, both its beautiful and ethical sides, I have decided to join public life,” he told reporters.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
