Yair Lapid ( ; born 5 November 1963) is an Israeli politician and former journalist who has been the Leader of the Opposition since January 2023, having previously served in that role from 2020 to 2021. He was prime minister of Israel from July to December 2022, the second alternate prime minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Naftali Bennett from 2021 to 2022, and Minister of Finance under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from 2013 to 2014. He has led the centrist Yesh Atid party since its creation in 2012.
Before entering politics in 2012, Lapid was an author, TV presenter and news anchor. Yesh Atid, which he founded, became the second-largest party in the Knesset by winning 19 seats in its first legislative election in 2013. The greater-than-anticipated results contributed to Lapid's reputation as a leading centrist.
From 2013 to 2014, following his coalition agreement with Likud, Lapid served as Minister of Finance under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He serves on the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, and the Sub-Committee on Intelligence and the Security Services.
On 17 May 2020, Lapid became the Leader of the Opposition, after the thirty-fifth government of Israel was sworn in. On 5 May 2021, he began talks with other parties to try to form a coalition government. On 2 June 2021, Lapid informed Israeli President Reuven Rivlin that he had agreed to a rotation government with Naftali Bennett and was prepared to replace the incumbent prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. The new government was sworn in on 13 June 2021.
Lapid became the prime minister of Israel on 1 July 2022 after Bennett stepped down as prime minister following the dissolution of the Knesset. Lapid remained prime minister until a new government was formed after the November 2022 election. Serving for only 181 days, he is the shortest-serving non-interim Israeli prime minister. In April 2026, Yesh Atid formed a new political alliance with Bennett 2026 named Together.
Biography
Yair Lapid was born in Tel Aviv, the son of journalist and politician Yosef "Tommy" Lapid, who served as Justice Minister, and novelist and playwright Shulamit (Giladi) Lapid. His father was born in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia (now Serbia) to Hungarian Jewish parents, and his mother was born in Tel Aviv. His maternal grandfather David Giladi, originally from Transylvania (now Romania), was a writer and journalist who was among the founders of the newspaper Maariv.Shulamit Lapid – Jewish Women's Archive He has a sister, Merav, who is a clinical psychologist. Another sister, Michal, died in a car crash in 1984. His paternal grandfather Bela (Meir) Lampel, a lawyer and Zionist activist, was murdered in Mauthausen concentration camp, while his great-grandmother Hermione Lampel was sent to Auschwitz, where she was murdered in a gas chamber.
Lapid grew up in Tel Aviv and London. His childhood home in Tel Aviv was in the Yad Eliyahu neighborhood, in a residential building known as the Journalists' Residence, as several prominent journalists lived there. He attended high school at the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium, but struggled with learning disabilities and dropped out without earning a bagrut certificate. Lapid spent most of his mandatory military service in the Israel Defense Forces as a military correspondent for the IDF's weekly newspaper, Bamahane ("In the base camp"). He has given different versions of how he began his service in the IDF before being transferred to Bamahane, alternatively claiming to have begun his service in the Armored Corps until he was transferred after suffering an asthma attack due to a smoke grenade and to have started his service in the Israeli Air Defense Command before being pulled out due to suffering an asthma attack from dust and haze during basic training. After completing his military service, he began working as a reporter for Maariv and published poetry in literary journals. He also had a career as an amateur boxer.
In the mid-1980s, Lapid married Tamar Friedman. The marriage produced one son, Yoav (born 1987). The couple divorced after the birth of their son. He later married Lihi Lapid, with whom he has two children. The couple lives in the Ramat Aviv Gimel neighborhood of Tel Aviv. He attends the Daniel Centers for Progressive Judaism, a Reform synagogue in Tel Aviv.
Journalism and media career
In 1988, at age 25, Lapid was appointed editor of Yedioth Tel Aviv, a local newspaper published by the Yedioth Ahronoth group. In 1991, he began writing a weekly column in a nationwide newspaper's weekend supplement—first for Maariv, and later for its competitor, Yedioth Ahronoth. His column's name, "Where's the Money?", became his political slogan decades later.
In 1994, Lapid started on TV, hosting the leading Friday evening talk show on Israel TV's Channel 1. In 1997, he had an acting role in an Israeli film about the Gulf War, Song of the Siren. He next hosted a talk show on TV Channel 3. In the 1990s, Lapid hosted a current affairs talk show called "Yair Lapid" on Channel 2.
From 1989 to 2010, Lapid wrote and published books spanning a variety of genres. His first was a thriller, of which he has published three more; the others include two children's books, two novels, and a collection of his newspaper columns. In addition, he wrote a drama series, War Room, that aired on Channel 2 in 2004. He has written a total of 12 books. His most successful book, Memories After My Death, was a biography of his late father.Yair Lapid – Official Biography
Lapid was also a songwriter for numerous Israeli musicians, among them Rami Kleinstein, Yardena Arazi, and Rita. Some of the songs he wrote became hits which reached the top of the charts in Israel.
In January 2008, Lapid was the host of Ulpan Shishi (Friday Studio), Channel 2's Friday night news magazine. That year, the Cameri Theater performed his first play, The Right Age for Love.
In January 2012, controversy arose after Lapid was admitted by Bar-Ilan University into a doctorate program, studying towards a PhD in hermeneutics. This was in violation of rules stating that all doctoral candidates must hold at minimum a bachelor's degree. Lapid, who had failed to complete high school, was admitted to the university based on his extra-academic credentials and career in journalism and writing. After the Knesset Education Committee launched an investigation, the Council for Higher Education canceled the program under which Lapid was admitted, which had allowed students without a BA to study towards a doctorate.
In September 2013, the Israeli edition of Forbes magazine estimated Lapid's net worth at 22 million shekels.
Political career Formation of Yesh Atid and 2013 election
On 8 January 2012 Lapid announced that he would be leaving journalism in order to enter politics.
On 30 April he formally registered his party, "Yesh Atid" (, lit., "There Is a Future"). The move was timed to coincide with the general expectation in Israel for early elections to be held in the early fall of 2012.
A few days after Yesh Atid's registration, in a surprise move, Benjamin Netanyahu formed a national unity government. It was then thought that Lapid's party would have to wait until late 2013 before it could participate in national elections. But in October 2012, following the departure of Kadima from Netanyahu's coalition over how to implement a Supreme Court decision ending exemptions from Haredi conscription, Netanyahu announced that elections would take place in late January 2013, affording Yesh Atid its first opportunity to run. In November 2012, Yesh Atid was polling an average of 11.6%, or 13–14 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. The results of the January election showed the party winning an unexpected 19 seats, making Yesh Atid the second-largest party in the 19th Knesset.
Minister of Finance (2013–2014) After the election, Yesh Atid joined the new government led by Netanyahu. Lapid was named finance minister on 15 March 2013. Only nine months later, a survey was published showing a continuing trend of decreasing popularity, with 75% of those polled claiming to be disappointed by his performance, and his party achieved only 10 seats in the Knesset, as opposed to the 19 it got at the beginning of the year.
On 2 December 2014, Netanyahu fired Lapid as finance minister.Ilan Ben Zion, (2 December 2014). Netanyahu fires Lapid, Livni from ministerial posts . The Times of Israel. At the same time, Netanyahu also dismissed Hatnua party leader Tzipi Livni from her cabinet post.Accusing Lapid and Livni of attempted ‘putsch’, Netanyahu fires them, calls elections Times of Israel, 2 December 2014
Yesh Atid in the Knesset opposition (2015–2021) Yesh Atid won eleven seats in the 2015 election, a decrease of eight seats. In the resulting Knesset, Yesh Atid sat in the opposition to a government headed by Netanyahu.
In 2016, Lapid presented his platform, the "Seven Point Plan for Israel", which included a robust security doctrine, a regional conference with Arab states based on the necessity of separating from the Palestinians, reforms of the political system to clean up corruption, the State of Israel that strikes a balance between its Jewish and democratic character, a strengthened law enforcement system, an economy propelled forward by innovation, and increased emphasis on education and science. Lapid and Yesh Atid claimed to spearhead the fight against corruption in Israel. The "Nachshon Plan", unveiled in 2017, stipulates that any person found guilty of corruption will be banned from serving in public office. To prevent political bribery, it also abolishes "coalition funds".
First tenure as leader of the opposition (2020–2021)
In the April 2019 and September 2019 elections, Yesh Atid joined the centrist Blue and White coalition headed by Benny Gantz. Neither election resulted in the formation of a government. Yesh Atid again ran in the coalition for the 2020 election, but left the coalition after Gantz formed a unity government headed by Netaynahu (with plans for a rotation). Yesh Atid continued to sit as an opposition party. Lapid served as leader of the opposition
Rotation government (2021–22)
Formation
On 5 May 2021, Lapid was entrusted with the second mandate to form a new government, after the incumbent Netanyahu failed to do so with the first mandate. On 9 May 2021, it was reported that Lapid and Bennett had made major headway in the coalition talks. However, on 10 May, coalition talks seemed to be jeopardized as the Ra’am party announced it was suspending coalition talks, due to escalation in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. On 13 May his path to being Prime Minister was further complicated when Naftali Bennett reportedly decided against joining a Lapid government due to the ongoing military conflict with Gaza.
On 30 May 2021, Bennett announced in a televised address that Yamina would indeed join a unity government with Lapid, after all but one of Yamina's MKs agreed to back this decision. On 2 June 2021, following negotiations with Lapid and Bennett, Ra'am leader Mansour Abbas officially signed a coalition agreement with Lapid and agreed to allow his party to join. The Knesset ultimately voted in favor of the new government by a one-vote margin on 13 June. the government was sworn in that same day, with Lapid becoming the Alternate Prime Minister of Israel and the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Alternate Prime Minister Upon becoming the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lapid's ministry assumed the duties of the now-defunct Ministry of Strategic Affairs. Several weeks later Lapid inaugurated Israel's embassy in Abu Dhabi, in what was the first official visit of the country by a member of the Israeli Government. In August 2021, he appointed former Minister of Health Yael German as Israeli Ambassador to France, and former Member of the Knesset Shimon Solomon as ambassador to Angola.