Yair Lapid is an Israeli statesman, journalist, actor, novelist and poet. He served as Prime Minister of Israel from July 1 to December 29, 2022.
The son of centrist politician Tomy Lapid, he entered politics himself in 2012 after a career in the media. He founded the secular centrist Yesh Atid movement, which came second in the 2013 parliamentary elections, allowing him to join the Netanyahu III government as finance minister.
In 2014, he left the government and in the following years became one of the main opponents of Benjamin Netanyahu. He lost in the three legislative elections of 2019-2020 behind Benny Gantz in the center-right Blue and White coalition, which finally joined a government of national unity led by Netanyahu, much to the chagrin of Lapid, who dissociated himself from it.
After Netanyahu again failed to form a government after the 2021 parliamentary elections, President Reuven Rivlin tasked Yair Lapid, who came second, with finding a majority. His negotiations resulted in a motley eight-party government led first by Naftali Bennett. Lapid served as alternate prime minister and foreign minister there and became prime minister on July 1, 2022, following Bennett's resignation. He left office on 29 December, following his defeat in the 2022 snap elections.
