Yesh Atid Will Back Center-left Bloc, No Matter Who Leads, Says Jacob Perry

Departing Yesh Atid Minister Jacob Perry said on Saturday that, with Israel's elections looming, his party would support a left-center bloc that appears to be forming, regardless of who headed it.

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“Whether it’s Yair Lapid, Tzipi Livni or Isaac Herzog, we’ll back that person,” he said.

The outgoing science and technology minister, who was taking part in a Saturday morning event in Beer Sheva, said that he believes Yesh Atid's leader, former Finance Minister Lapid, is ready to be prime minister.

“He has gathered a lot of political and economic experience in the past two years and I’ll give him my full support. He can definitely head a bloc that will prevent Netanyahu from forming the next government,” Perry said.

Perry accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of pursuing his own political benefits at the expense of the public. “His decision to call elections was irresponsible. The public missed out on important impending reforms, with the transfer of billions of shekels to welfare, education and health.”

He added that there was total diplomatic stalemate and that Operation Protective Edge, which could have led to a regional agreement, was totally wasted. He commented that the nation-state bill was brought forth on a day in which a Druze policeman sacrificed his life in defense of synagogue worshippers. “We can’t support discriminatory laws that create second-class citizens."