The Yesh Atid party headed by MK Yair Lapid appears to be setting up a bona fide disinformation network to topple the Netanyahu government, using social media, while Lapid meets with Democrats in the United States on the “crisis” in US-Israel relations.
במפלגת יש עתיד מקימים בשבועות האחרונים מערך השפעה ברשתות החברתיות, במענה כביכול ל"מכונת הרעל" של הליכוד. המערך שמקים לפיד אמור לכלול משפיענים, קבוצות תיאום, וכן חשבונות פיקטיבים.
הפרטים הבוקר אצל @efitriger— יובל שגב | Yuval Segev (@Segev_Yuval) April 13, 2023
According to Yugal Segev, a political correspondent with Galei Tzahal Army Radio, Yesh Atid reported that it has been establishing an influencer system on the social networks, apparently in response to what it calls the “poison machine” of the Likud party, headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The network includes influencers, group coordinators and fictitious accounts, Segev reported.
He quoted Yesh Atid as saying it has been operating throughout the years in a variety of arenas and on a range of social networks to get its message out.
Lapid Busy in the US
“I was pleased to meet with Opposition Leader Yair Lapid and welcome him to New York’s 12th Congressional District,” wrote New York City Congress member Jerry Nadler, a ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee.
“We reiterated the importance of maintaining a strong US-Israel relationship and protecting the democratic values that must remain at the heart of that relationship,” Nadler wrote.
It is ironic that Nadler, as chair of the House Judiciary Committee two years ago, attempted to “pack” the 150-year-old nine-member US Supreme Court by adding four new justices – to be appointed by President Joe Biden — in an effort to create a left-wing majority on the bench.
Earlier this year, Nadler was active in organizing Jewish Democratic Congress members to oppose the Israeli government’s planned judicial reforms, claiming it could “undermine Israeli democracy.”
Lapid has been very busy since landing in New York this past Monday (April 10).
From the pictures it seems @yairlapid got a very warm welcome and embraced by the American Jewish leaders.
? Jewish Federations of North America pic.twitter.com/assprGtWdI
— Jacob N. Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) April 11, 2023
In addition to addressing a major convocation of North American Jewish leaders organized by the Jewish Federation of New York, the opposition leader and former prime minister was hosted on a podcast by Yael Eckstein, president and CEO of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.
Lapid Takes the Low Road with Name-Calling
Last week Lapid slammed Netanyahu in a lengthy statement, warning the prime minister “lost control” and that his cabinet is the most “extremist and failed government” in the history of the Jewish State.
“What is happening on the Temple Mount is a terrible irresponsibility of the government,” Lapid said in a statement broadcast by Israel’s KAN News public broadcaster.
“This is what happens when you entrust the Temple Mount to the most extreme man in the State of Israel.
“This TikTok clown (National Minister Itamar Ben Gvir), instead of working properly in precise coordination with the security forces, is just trying to set the Middle East on fire,” Lapid claimed. “One has to be cautious about images that inflame the entire State of Israel and cause terrorism.”
That’s a rich statement from a man who was a major force in orchestrating the shutdown of the entire country – complete with a flurry of photo ops covered by mainstream media in Israel and abroad — while Israelis were trying to complete their shopping and other arrangements ahead of Passover.
Left-Wing Agitation Continues
On Wednesday night immediately following the conclusion of the Passover holiday in Israel, hundreds of left-wing demonstrators gathered outside the site of Mimouna celebrations in Hadera at which the prime minister and his wife were the honored guests.
קבלת הפנים לנתניהו בחדרה: הפגנה מחוץ לחגיגות המימונה שבהן משתתף רה"מhttps://t.co/bQeG1nsblJ pic.twitter.com/jNFXwnzpkA
— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) April 12, 2023
“What is happening inside Al Aqsa (mosque) on the Temple Mount is an issue at the level of a prime minister,” he claimed.
“It should be handled with care and certainly not by a human being who quite frankly doesn’t know what he is doing . . . and doesn’t care ‘that the Middle East will burn.’
“Whoever appointed a convicted terrorist to be the Minister of National Security could not have expected any other result,” Lapid continued.
However, it was Netanyahu who ordered a ban on Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount beginning Wednesday and continuing until the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan to prevent an escalation in violence by Arab agitators. Similar decisions were made during prior Netanyahu governments as well.
Yesh Atid Working to Sabotage Israeli Government
The US-based Am Echad organization warned this week in a letter to Lapid made public by its affiliate, Agudath Israel, that the Yesh Atid leader is “driving a wedge between Israel and Jews around the world.”
It’s not clear how long Lapid plans to stay in the US, nor has his spokesperson publicized any further meetings that are planned.
The Yesh Atid team negotiating for the party meanwhile has presented its agenda to Herzog in advance of the resumption of talks next week on the government’s planned judicial reforms.
But it’s clear that’s not all the party has planned.
Two days ago, Yesh Atid MK Orna Barbiei said in a statement that the party sees the current crisis in Israel “as an opportunity to make a historic proposal” and therefore intends to discuss in talks with President Isaac Herzog “not only the committee for the appointment of judges.”
