A reason to go out. This week, Yair Lapid received the right to have a taste of one of the most important and challenging positions in the world. But in order to hold on to this position even after the election, he will need a lot more luck, and much depends on what he does in the coming days. Unless he projects a message that will ensure he garners the enthusiastic support of Center-Left voters, his stay at the Balfour residence will not be long.
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Many in the country, who see themselves as being on the right track, are patriots carrying the main burden of the existence of the Zionist enterprise at a heavy cost; those who believe that it is crucial to reach a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in order to create a separation between us, to allow them to achieve self-determination and full rights, and to allow us the promise Israel as a Jewish and democratic state – are willing to see Lapid as their leader.
The more daring he is, the more he will convince even the most desperate voters to show up on election day, because they hold the power to bring us closer to the object of our desire – the more likely he is to break the long-drawn-out and crippling tie.
Alternatively, if he walks on eggshells, refrains from making significant announcements in the comings months, or avoiding meetings he'd rather not attend or making any concrete promises, the Right will not vote for him, and will instead choose Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu, head of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party Itamar Ben Gvir, or Likud MK Dudi Amsalem, and the pessimist will skip the elections altogether.
If Lapid acts based on the advice of political commentators and does everything so as not to upset the sector or the status quo in various areas of life, he may fail in the main political challenge of the upcoming months: to get people out of their homes. Those who would support him if they made it to the voting booths, those who have come to the so-called scientific conclusion that there is supposedly no difference between one politician and another, that all of them make promises and never keep them, that none of them speak the truth, and that they could not make a difference in any case.
It is important to remember what can get those people out of the house. Before he was elected prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin promised an agreement with the Palestinians within three to six months. Ehud Barak promised to withdraw from Lebanon within a year of forming a government.
People stood in line just to vote for concrete promises (which in the above-mentioned examples were fulfilled). They wouldn't have voted for candidates who fed them vague promises such as a government of "unity and sanity."
No one knows how to achieve something this abstract, and voters find it hard to believe that this goal can be achieved by whoever promised it. Being cautious is not always the best route. In Lapid's case, this is the worst advice he could get.
Burmese princess
Aung San Suu Kyi is one of the most famous people in the world. Yet, it never seems to prevent the ruling sect in Burma from arresting her time and again. For years, not a single significant international figure passed through Myanmar (Burma) without visiting the well-known diplomat and author, whose home became her prison.
Six years ago, it seemed the saga ended. San Suu Kyi was released, her party won the election, and she served as state counselor (because according to the "constitution," a person whose family member carries a foreign passport cannot serve as president, and San Suu Kyi's children have US passports…) and essentially became the most senior political figure in her country.
The division of power between the civilians and the military was very problematic, and when the soldiers retaliated against the Rohingya in 2016, she was the one to pay the political price for having failed to prevent it.
Many were disappointed that San Suu Kyi did not fight the military, give back her awards in protest, and viewed her as collaborating with a cruel regime. In the 2021 elections, she was sentenced to four years in prison for election fraud. In January 2022, she received four years in jail, and just this week, at the age of 77, yet another five years in prison on corruption charges. Perhaps now she can get back all her awards.
