Four-year Yesh Atid MK announces leave of political realm

Meanwhile, Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid returned to his roots on Thursday by releasing a campaign advertisement focusing on the haredim (ultra-Orthodox).

By GIL HOFFMAN
Updated: FEBRUARY 14, 2019 21:02
Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Yesh Atid MK Haim Jelin announced on Thursday that he would not seek re-election to the Knesset after Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid reportedly did not place him in a realistic slot on the party’s list for the next Knesset.
In his official statement, Jelin said that his four years in the Knesset were “meaningful and filling.” He added that he was thankful for the opportunity to represent his neighbors in the Gaza periphery and the agricultural communities and pass legislation in order to help them.
But sources in Yesh Atid said that Jelin was angry for not giving him a slot in the top 15 on the list, that he was “kicked out” by Lapid and that the Lapid had “stuck a knife in the back of the residents of the Gaza periphery.”
More Yesh Atid MKs are likely to be disappointed ahead of the primaries on Monday, when the party will announce its Knesset candidates.
Meanwhile, Lapid returned to his roots on Thursday by releasing a campaign advertisement focusing on the haredim (ultra-Orthodox).
Lapid’s party has not seen a rise in the polls recently, remaining stagnant on 11 seats that it had in the outgoing Knesset. Returning to the party’s core issue could reinforce its base ahead of next Thursday’s deadline for lists of candidates that will be submitted to the Central Elections Committee.
“You said we are hurting the haredi public, but no one has done more damage to the haredi public than your cronies who sit here,” Lapid said in a Knesset speech in which he attacked United Torah Judaism leader Ya’acov Litzman that is played in the ad.
Lapid complained in the speech that the haredi leadership does not let their community study math and English or support their families.
“No one is against their faith,” Lapid said. “We are just saying your children will need to learn to finance themselves, so that our children won’t have to finance them for the next 100 years.”
The ad ends with Lapid shouting at UTJ MKs that if they do not follow the Education Ministry requirements, they should “not take money.”