Chairman has a future taken off for a "vacation" in a national timing and in a complex political situation • But what about him and that?
It is not an election until the fat lady sings, warms up the engine, runs on the track and takes off to take Yair Lapid to a coveted destination abroad.
It was officially described as a "vacation", and drew much criticism both because of national timing and because of the political situation.
But the truth is that this is not Lapid's first time in the skies.
In fact, it is a repeat pattern.
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In April 2019, exactly two years ago, the first elections of the current round took place.
About five days after the polls closed, Lapid took off for Paris in that case - leaving behind a turbulent and divided political system, which exploded a few months later following Lieberman's decision not to join the right-wing government.
Coincidentally or not, Lieberman also stayed in Europe at the same time as Lapid's trip, a fact that sparked speculation among political reporters about cooperation between them.
It is not known if the two met or not, but the bottom line teaches a lot.
Even at the beginning of the current election campaign, Lapid knocked out a card in America and held a round of meetings with strategic advisers close to the Democratic Party.
Lapid eventually returned to Israel, just before the gates closed due to the corona.
And again, these would mean that you have to spend for these processes.
As is well known, Gideon Saar also hired the services of Democratic advisers from the United States, members of the infamous "Lincoln Project," and they ran a campaign to suppress right-wing voters. Indeed, as recent events show, Torch and Saar are certainly coordinated.
Kind of a political iRobot
His current absence raises more questions precisely because of the timing - why does the opposition chairman take off for a holiday on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day?
Why is he absent during the most important national holidays in the Israeli calendar?
And on top of that, of course the corona connection: this is no ordinary year, flights require restrictions of various kinds.
There must be a good reason to fly right now.
It's hard to get away from the impression that Torch is a kind of political iRobot, that needs one for a set period of time to return to its docking station to reset and refill.
He has enough energy to go around a bit in the campaign, for a few speeches and some small election day set-up, but that's it - here it's over and it's necessary to sail back to the mother spacecraft to get a hug.
More than anyone else, Yair Lapid is the trigger for the current political crisis.
From the first moment, he is the one who leads the most rigid line against sitting in government with Netanyahu, and he is the one who marked the goal of "getting Bibi out of Balfour" as the basic reason for the existence of blue and white and the left since the beginning of the "tangle".
In an article called "The Center Returns" published in the journal "Shiloah" in 2017, Lapid describes a conversation with an American political strategist who once told him "there is no such thing as a non-negative campaign."
It is clear that Lapid adopted this lesson.
And he also set the basic goal even then - a struggle against "populism".
"With the right work, with the right collaborations, we will see in the coming years more and more leaders forming new center parties, winning elections, leading countries, taking responsibility in a world that seems to have unloaded every yoke," he wrote.
He said he had "dozens of talks with leaders of Central Parties from Europe, Asia and the Americas."
And the conclusion is that "the leaders of the center have already begun the movement back to power."
Indeed, Lapid's American advisers succeeded: Trump left, leaving only Netanyahu.
The truth?
There is nothing more symbolic than this Lapid flight.
The plane detaches from the ground and leaves behind a bruised, divided nation and licking its wounds, on one of the most sensitive days of the year.
But what about that and the torch?
He is the man of the great world.
Holocaust, resurrection, remembrance, these are children's games of the local rabbi.
Our torch has a bigger task to fulfill - to save the world from the babysitters.