The Man Who Could End the Netanyahu Era
“Let us,” I said, “talk about the Netanyahu inevitability factor.”
Yair Lapid dead-eyed me as he formulated a comeback.
“Will you be kind enough,” he finally said, smiling, “to describe to the very smart readers of The Atlantic the office in which you are raising this issue?”
We were seated in the office of the Israeli prime minister. Not the principal office of the prime minister, in Jerusalem, but a satellite office at the Ministry of Defense, in Tel Aviv. Still, a prime minister’s office.
“All of the people who are saying that Bibi is inevitable are the same people who told me that I would never be able to form a government, never be able to form a coalition, never be able to build a party. I don’t think the question makes sense anymore,” Lapid said, referring to the former prime minister by his nickname. “If Bibi is so savvy, how come he’s the leader of the opposition who has lost four elections in a row, and I’m here?”
