It has been two months since Yair Lapid took over the Israeli Foreign Ministry, but in that short time, it is patently obvious that he wants to leave his mark there. The mood is very different under him. He is trying to prove to everyone that he can do the job better than his predecessor, former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Lapid is certainly going about it differently.

And yet, in the big picture, the Foreign Ministry is just a way station for him. The rotation agreement with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has Lapid leaving the Foreign Ministry in about two years’ time so that he can become prime minister. That will happen if all goes according to plan, and the fragile government survives beyond all initial expectations. In the event that the government collapses, Lapid would immediately become prime minister, meaning that he would fill the office during the next election campaign. Should that happen, it is highly likely that he would have to run against Netanyahu. The practical implications are obvious. Lapid would have to distinguish himself from Netanyahu and prove that he is the better statesman. That is exactly what Lapid is trying to do now.

The most recent and perhaps most indicative example of this strategy is Lapid’s ongoing clash with the Polish government, which is turning into a real diplomatic crisis. Tension rose when Polish President Andrzej Duda signed a law limiting claims by survivors of the Nazi atrocities for property that was nationalized after World War II. While the law does not target Jews specifically, it makes it more difficult for Holocaust survivors to sue for compensation. Lapid is the son of a Holocaust survivor, former Justice Minister Tommy Lapid, who fought long and hard against earlier iterations of this law. Nevertheless, Yair Lapid’s sharp response surprised even the Polish government.

With the flag of Israel hanging behind him, Lapid told a press conference that he recalled the head of the Israeli delegation to Warsaw, Israeli Charge d'Affaires Tal Ben-Ari Yaalon, indefinitely for consultations and put a hold on sending Israel's new ambassador to Poland, Yaakov Livne, to Warsaw.