Billionaire Adelson Meets Privately With Israeli Finance Minister Lapid
Mazal Mualem wonders whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should worry about Finance Minister Yair Lapid, his potential heir, who recently met with a top Netanyahu backer.
About two weeks ago, Finance Minister Yair Lapid met secretly with American billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s big supporter and also the owner of the freebie newspaper Israel Hayom.
The intriguing meeting between the popular finance minister and the casino tycoon — who has a right-wing worldview and pulls the strings of Israeli and American politics alike — took place Saturday afternoon [April 27] in Adelson’s luxurious penthouse in a quiet North Tel Aviv neighborhood (a residence most familiar to Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu). It became known to Al-Monitor that Lapid paid a visit to Adelson’s apartment, accompanied by his spouse, Lihi, for an unofficial meeting with Sheldon and his spouse, Miriam.
The meeting lasted about two hours and was conducted in an intimate atmosphere. The content of the meeting remains a mystery, but we can ask ourselves a few questions about the very fact it took place, and its potential ramifications.
