Chairman of Yesh Atid, Knesset member Yair Lapid, defeated Knesset member Ram Ben Barak last night in the primaries for party leadership. Lapid won 52.5% compared to Ben Barak who won 47.5%, a gap of 5% and only 29 votes. Ben Barak Talked today (Friday) with Ron Koffman and Tal Schneider at103FMand referred to the loss in the primaries: “We both wanted to win.”
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“There were fair and honorable elections. Both Lapid and I managed them very well, we both really wanted to win, we both ran a pretty tough campaign for those people who are supposed to vote,” said Ben Barak at the beginning of the conversation. “Yair won, we respect the results. Yesh Atid is a soon-to-be 12-year-old party, it was founded by Lapid and according to its statutes it is supposed to gradually become democratic, this was the first step.”
“The results show that at least half of the members of the conference really want it, there were close to 85 percent of the vote,” said the Knesset member. “Without naming names, I don’t want to see people on our list like there are on some other lists, that’s why we need to see how we both do primaries and do it smartly, so as not to create a situation where unworthy people will take over the party.”
He later referred to the growing escalation in the northern arena: “Returning the abductees is, in my eyes, the first and foremost task, and after that winning the war in Gaza and returning the residents to the north, if possible without war. I’m not sure it’s possible, but Nasrallah also understands and we know that in the north this will end in an agreement, we We will not occupy all of Lebanon. Since we understand that it will end in an agreement, I think it is right to try to reach an agreement before the war, but I do not live under illusions.”
Attacking a Hezbollah military structure in Lebanon by the IDF. Photo: IDF spokesman
“I propose an agreement with the Lebanese government with international backing. Our biggest mistake is that we allowed Hamas or a terrorist organization, as far as I’m concerned, they’re all the same scoundrels, to grow and we didn’t stop them. We changed. We will change. I’m sure that after October 7 we will change. We understand that signing agreements And we need to respond to every violation. When we left Lebanon in 2006, Ehud Barak said he would respond to every missile with an unprecedented attack and he did not do it, they violated the agreement and we did nothing, we let Hamas grow for years and we did nothing. We all learned this lesson We learned,” he added. “We are doing a lot now, there is a war in the north, this war will have to become total if we have no choice. Even in a total war, it will end in an agreement, we will not hold 40 km inside Lebanon.”
Assisted in editing the article: Shani Romano, 103FM