Quotes from Yair Lapid

I want to live in a country that is not just a place but also an idea, and Jerusalem is the heart of the idea. There may be practical considerations, but a country cannot exist without an ethos, and Jerusalem is an ethos.

Israel can't be the only country in the Western world not to have freedom of religion.

Israeli teachers are not required to hold an academic degree, and their salaries are the lowest in the Western world.

You want private education for your students? No problem whatsoever; pay for it.

The State of Israel was not established by anxiety but, rather, through pride.

I'm willing to take a polygraph test to prove that I'm happy about Kahlon's return to politics. He's a good man, a man who cares. It's good to have people like that in politics, I have no problem with that.

Judaism is a whole line of values that have existed for thousands of years, but the democratic idea is a new idea, and significant parts of it stand in contradiction to Judaism.

Why doesn't anyone remember that the Palestinians already had four real opportunities to establish their state, yet each time they preferred to revert to terrorism?

The Left doesn't understand the importance of God in the Israeli public discourse, and Yesh Atid does.

There's always a reason not to do anything... to flee the need to make decisions.

The Israeli public's willingness to enlist, the warm embrace for the soldiers and the residents of the south, and the desire to contribute and to give at any given moment really warm the heart, and it gives all of us strength.

The win-win situation is the basis for America's entire business world. Instead of wasting our time attempting to defeat each other, let's find a way that will make both of us gain and go home satisfied. In Israel, it doesn't work because the only meaning of victory is seeing your rival's body lying trampled on the floor.

When the Americans see someone like Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg, who made billions thanks to their talent and determination, the first thing they say to themselves is, 'I want to be like him.' This, in many ways, is the engine that drives Western society: The desire to make it like the winners.

Hebrew is the language I use to thank the Creator and, also, to swear on the road.

Politicians around the world are very different, but they all have one thing in common: The first thing they respond to is public opinion.

The democratic system is premised on trust in the masses' wisdom. We believe that the collective is wiser than its parts and that, at the end of the day, it shall make the right choices and take the right decisions.

The rabbis and their wives may say whatever they wish in private conversations. I may not like their views, but a person is allowed to say anything in his or her own home.

When someone doesn't react to changes, the changes turn against him.

The settlers, as we know, are the only people in Israel who take the Left seriously. When you read the settlers' publications, you think that the leftists are everywhere: The leftists infiltrate the government, the leftists run the Defense Ministry, the leftists dominate the legal establishment, and the leftists control the media, of course.

If someone doubts our right to exist - be it on the hills of Umm al-Fahem or in Munich's beer halls, in Gaza's crowded streets or in the thick woods of Babi Yar - it's their problem. Proud states do not break into wails and crawl under the carpet when they discover someone doesn't love them.

I feel we're at risk that a whole generation of young Israelis, who went to the army, work hard, pay taxes, one day will look around and say, 'Hey, this country is going nowhere.'

If you want to do stuff, you have to be able to handle controversy.

One of the hardest things is to create hope.

Freedom of expression is tested during times of anger and conflict and enables all opinions and outraged expressions of dissent that we may not want to hear. But even for this there have to be limits.