With all the attention Yair Lapid has been getting, you’d be forgiven for thinking Israel has two opposition leaders.

Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid may be proof for Henry Kissinger’s famous statement that “Israel has no foreign policy; it has only a domestic policy.”

At a time when Israel does not have a designated foreign minister, Lapid has spent the last year-plus trying to fill that vacuum, acting as a self-appointed Shadow Foreign Minister, jet-setting around the world to make Israel’s case. Whether it’s accusing the UN Human Rights Commission of bias against Israel in Geneva or calling Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom an anti-Semite in Stockholm, Lapid is there, contributing his trademark charisma to Israel’s defense.

He’s also put pen to paper for Israel, publishing op-eds such as one in Foreign Policy hailing the US-Israel alliance during negotiations on the Memorandum of Understanding for Israel to receive aid.

For Lapid, all politics really is local – even if they take him around the world. Continue reading