A True Son of Tel Aviv Takes the Reins at Jerusalem

“The State of Tel Aviv” is the title of an Israeli television series and the name of a recently launched English-language website. The term is based on the notion that the country’s largest metropolis is its own nation. As of today, that state has produced its first Israeli leader, Yair Lapid. Mr. Lapid, who becomes acting prime minister at midnight, Israel time, was born in Tel Aviv and has lived there his entire life. He now is expected to move to a Jerusalem three-bedroom house that once hosted the embassy of Guatemala; it now is temporarily serving as the premier’s home while the official residence is being refurbished. Other prime ministers have lived in Tel Aviv, including most notably Menachem Begin, whose tiny apartment there symbolized his scorn for the glitzy trappings of power. Unlike them, and regardless of where he actually resides, Mr. Lapid is Tel Aviv. The city is Israel’s economic, cultural, and creative heartbeat. In recent years its free-style, fun-loving ways — not to mention the great beaches — have made the Mediterranean metropolis a worldwide magnet for sophisticated travelers. Politically, the state of Tel Aviv is somewhat akin to an American blue state. Its residents by and large resent religious coercion and vote for centrist and leftist parties. In carrying out their mandatory army service, many Tel Avivians prefer plum non-combat jobs to those in elite battling units. Mostly, Tel Aviv is the city of Israel’s youth. Even its elder residents think of themselves as young regardless of biological age. No wonder the 58-year-old Mr. Lapid, whose illustrious career included a stint as a prolific songwriter, once wrote Hebrew lyrics to Bob Dylan’s “Forever Young.” A former reporter for the Israeli version of Stars and Stripes, Bamahane, Mr. Lapid will be a rarity among recent prime ministers, as he has not served in an elite combat unit. After the army, he became a newspaper columnist with a centrist bent. He was also a film and television actor, a novelist, a comedian, and a boxer.The apex of Mr. Lapid’s media career was hosting an interview-based talk show on the country’s most watched television channel, and serving as the station’s top Friday news anchor. By then his fame had surpassed that of his father, Yosef “Tommy” Lapid. The elder Lapid, a Holocaust survivor, was a long-time columnist for the country’s most poplar newspaper at the time, Maariv. Late in life the pugnacious newspaperman entered politics and became the Knesset’s most vociferous nemesis of Israel’s non-Zionist religious parties. As elections approached in 2013, the younger Mr. Lapid decided to follow in his father’s footsteps. He used his renown as an entertainer and TV star to launch a party that espoused the spirit of, and has drawn most its support from, Tel Aviv. At the Knesset Mr. Lapid honed his political skills. As finance minister he was fired by the head of government at the time, Benjamin Netanyahu, and then bet his political future on leading a growing anti-Bibi camp. After last year’s election, when his party became the Knesset’s second-largest faction behind Mr. Netanayahu’s Likud, Mr. Lapid proved to be a wily political operator. He coalesced with a small right wing party headed by Naftali Bennett, as well as other conservative Bibi-foes, leftist parties, and Arab Islamists. With that politically diverse group he managed to cobble together enough Knesset support to unseat Mr. Netanyahu.In backroom dealings Messers. Lapid and Bennett came to an agreement that each of them would serve as prime minister for two years. Mr. Lapid magnanimously allowed his new partner to take the top job first, even though Mr. Bennett’s party is much smaller than his own.Mr. Lapid is no dummy, though: He inserted into the agreement a clause saying that if the Knesset majority collapsed, Mr. Lapid, as head of the largest faction in the coalition, would become acting prime minister. Taking the reins now, political analysts assume that as the incumbent in the run up to the November 1 national election, Mr. Lapid’s public support would grow. Tel Aviv’s most dedicated left wingers would hardly consider Mr. Lapid one of their own. Yes, he supports a negotiated two-state solution. Yet he is well aware of what a veteran political writer, Atilla Somfalvi, writes on the State of Tel Aviv website: “The Palestinians are divided. Half went with terror and the other half with corruption. With whom do you negotiate?” Mr. Lapid is on the record opposing a return to the Iran nuclear deal, and has expressed several other hawkish positions. He supports a safety net for the poor, but is far from a socialist. In short, like Tel Aviv geographically, Mr. Lapid is at the center of Israel’s politics. From Ronald Reagan to Volodymir Zelensky, former entertainers have shown a special knack for political communication and leadership. Tel Avivians are hoping Mr. Lapid will follow in their footsteps. He is one of them, and they are expected to back him in larger numbers than voters anywhere else in the country. Unlike the rich history of the capital, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv is all about the future. No wonder Mr. Lapid named his party Yesh Atid: “There is a Future.”_____________Correction: A rarity is the noun with which to denote the frequency of Israeli prime ministers who are not veterans of elite combat units. This was misstated in the bulldog.

A True Son of Tel Aviv Takes the Reins at Jerusalem

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