Israel PM Yair Lapid, a journalist-turned-politician, & a man of many talents

Yair Lapid, the journalist-turned politician, has taken over as Israel’s caretaker prime minister with the country preparing to go for polls for the fifth time in four years in November.

The 58-year-old leader – widely credited for building the coalition that ended Benjamin Netanyahu’s record 12 consecutive years in power – is now gearing up for the November polls to stop him from returning to form a government yet again.

But even as the country witnesses political turbulence, Lapid – who is said to be a man of many talents – has caught attention beyond boundaries for now. He has been known for being a household name in Israel for he hosted one of the biggest mainstream talk shows in the 1990s.

The “Being Israeli” columnist-commentator is also said to have built a solid profile in public service in a decade, having been the head of this party – “Yesh Atid”. He had composed songs, acted in films before moving into television, according to a BBC report.

He has also worked for a while for Israeli-U.S. mogul Arnon Milchan during an acting stint in Hollywood and is also said to be an amateur boxer.

The multifaceted leader has also been a screenwriter. He wrote a popular Israeli TV series, “War Room”, in 2005, which was based on a secret unit of elite spies and military officers. They handled national crises as professionals, rather than politicians – this was the premise of the show.

Yosef “Tommy” Lapid, his father, was a Holocaust survivor. He had later turned into a secular politician.

Netanyahu, Israel’s longest surviving PM, is Lapid’s biggest rival in the November polls. Analysts are keen to see if Lapid would be able to do again what he did in 2021.

Naftali Bennett, Lapid’s predecessor, has said he won’t contest the polls again after the eight-party coalition he led faced ideological divisions. The Israel parliament dissolved Thursday following a unanimous vote after which Lapid, who has been the foreign minister and continues to hold to that portfolio, took over as the caretaker prime minister.

Early opinion polls suggest that the November 1 polls will be inconclusive but for Lapid, one key agenda in the coming weeks is US president Joe Biden’s Jerusalem visit.