Opposition leader Yair Lapid is expected to fly to the US next week to speak with the heads of Jewish organizations about the new government.
He is set to take a personal vacation in Paris this weekend and will then fly to the US for the meetings, reports said.
Lapid framed the visit as an opportunity to support Jewish organizations, many of whom are highly critical of and worried about the new government.
The subtext, however, is that Lapid is expected to try to enlist the heads of the organizations to assist him in his effort to raise global censure of the government and attempt to sway the proclaimed changes that it has said it will enact specifically regarding state and religion.
'Lapid is being disturbing and irresponsible'
“What Lapid is doing now as outgoing prime minister is disturbing and irresponsible,” said Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli at a World Beitar conference in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
Chikli added that Lapid “doesn’t understand that when he tells the whole world that Israel has a dark government, the world doesn’t differentiate between the government and the state. No former prime minister has ever acted this way.”
"Lapid is spearheading the BDS movement."
Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli
Chikli concluded that Lapid is “doing the work of the BDS [movement],” that he is “spearheading the BDS movement.”
During the conference, when asked about his attitude toward Reform Jews, Chikli also said “we will back any Jew regardless of their backgrounds and beliefs.”