Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid is “an out-and-out leftist, everything about him is an impersonation,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said in an interview with Makor Rishon that will appear in the weekend magazine.
Netanyahu ruled out the possibility of establishing a unity government with Labor, and made clear that he would not sit in a government headed by Yitzchak Herzog.
“If people do not go out and vote Likud, an upheaval is possible,” he said, using the word “mahapach” that refers to a change from right-wing government to left-wing government, or vice versa.
“There is a concentrated effort – political and financial – to bring about the downfall of the Likud government under me and its replacement with a leftist government under Tzipi and Buji [Herzog],” Netanyahu explained.
“This effort is organized by a massive funneling of money, tens of millions of dollars in my estimation, and also by a savage and unprecedented campaign by many media elements.”
Asked if he is concerned about the possibility the the current Likud government would be replaced by the Left, Netanyahu said: “Yes. If people to not go out and vote Likud, the answer is yes. Yes, it can happen.”
Lapid himself told Army Radio Wednesday: “There are zero chances that we will recommend Binyamin Netanyahu, everyone understands this, because I think that he shouldn’t be the next prime minister. We need to understand that there is a change here. There is no more Right and Left… There is Right, center and Left… Most of the public is in the center; it is sane, pragmatic and reasonable.”