Who is Yair Lapid?

Yair Lapid is a former Israeli TV star, finance minister, and the head of the centrist Yesh Atid party. He is currently Israel’s Alternate Prime Minister and its Minister of Foreign Affairs and is considered the political mastermind behind Benjamin Netanyahu’s loss of power. Under the coalition agreement with Naftali Bennet’s Rightist party, he will become Israel’s Prime Minister in 2 years, replacing Bennett.

Who is Naftali Bennett?

Israel’s new Prime Minister is Benjamin Netanyahu’s former chief of staff, the son of American immigrants from San Francisco, who became a self-made tech millionaire before entering Israeli politics. He is 49, married to a pastry cook, with whom he has four school-age kids.

How to pronounce Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid?

Naftalī Bennett is named after Naphtali, who was the sixth son of Jacob and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Naphtali, according to the Book of Genesis. It is pronounced: naaf·taa·lee. His family name, Bennett, is Anglo-Norman, not Hebrew, meaning “blessed,” and pronounced just as you’d imagine: beh·nuht.

Yair Lapid’s name derives from the Biblical Book of Judges. Yair was a man from Gilead of the Tribe of Manasseh, who judged Israel for 22 years. The literal Hebrew meaning of the name is “(He) will (make) light/illuminate” and is pronounced yaa·eer. Lapid is a torch in Hebrew and is pronounced laa·peed. And yes, the literal meaning of Yair Lapid’s name is “He will light a torch.”