Yair Lapid is the first prime minister in Israel to grow up on television.
As such he knows how to read from the teleprompter perfectly, tell a story to his viewers, spice it up with emotion and maintain eye-level contact with the viewers.
Yair does not need to make it clear that he is the mainstream of the mainstream - he is like Channel 2, only in man.
Thus, Lapid chose to open his debut speech as Israeli Prime Minister with a personal story from the Holocaust, one he has used on several occasions in the past and of course connects with his well-publicized visit to the Yad Vashem Museum, on the eve of his inauguration. In a statement on the floor of the room in the Budapest ghetto, a bottle of Chanel five perfume - "the perfume of elegant ladies at the time", he said - just so it would not stink at her son's bar mitzvah. This week, which consists of a mix of clichés that connect together in order to distill the entire Israeli essence through them. Why? Because everyone knows that the thing that is most Israeli in Yair Lapid's eyes is only Yair Lapid.
PM Lapid at a cabinet meeting, Photo: Haim Tzach / GPO
The prime minister's statement was broadcast live last night on the three main channels (here 11, Keshet 12 and Network 13, while the news channel "Now 14" preferred to ignore history), and throughout the speech Lapid made sure to broadcast elements of statehood through him.
He was centered, hopeful, conciliatory, combined a lot of tradition and Judaism, sent a stern warning to our enemies, and scattered very many messages of unity;
In short, all the materials from which election propaganda is built.
He even talked about the importance of press freedom.
Yair Lapid is the first prime minister to emerge on television, which gives him a huge advantage in the upcoming election campaign.
First speech by Prime Minister Yair Lapid, All Channels, 9 p.m.
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