Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid kicked off his 2019 election campaign on Tuesday night with a speech in which he attacked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"We'll win, because most of the citizens of Israel don't want a prime minister who is only interested in the indictments against him. Did you see him on television? We got final proof why someone suspected of serious criminal violations can't be prime minister. It was no 'dramatic announcement,' it was a hysterical announcement," Lapid said, referring to Netanyahu's televised message to the public during the prime time news broadcast on Monday evening.
Likud members said Lapid should disclose the "dozens" of meetings he reportedly held with Yedioth Ahronoth publisher Arnon "Noni" Mozes, whom they said provided flattering coverage of Lapid on the newspaper's affiliated Ynet news site in exchange for Lapid promoting a bill that would shut down Israel Hayom, Yedioth Ahronoth's chief competitor.
Associates of Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman also attacked Lapid, saying that "the citizens of Israel won't accept preaching from the politician who zigzags the most, who is busy making people forget he was the biggest failure as finance minister Israel has known.
"Lapid hasn't changed and remains a man of hatred and enmity, who bases his party's principles on incitement and lies," Litzman's colleagues said.
