Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid said he is willing to talk with the haredi community and believes dialogue will be beneficial.
"I am all for dialogue with the haredim, and I've even been interviewed by haredi radio stations," Lapid told Kol Barama Radio on Wednesday. "I have a few basic rules, and one of them is that everyone has a right to educate their children the way they see fit. I have no desire to cause married yeshiva students to stop learning in yeshiva."
Lapid also mentioned the "Supermarkets Law," which empowers the Interior Minister to nullify local bylaws permitting businesses to open during the Sabbath.
"Ashdod Mayor Yechiel Lasri is implementing the law in Ashdod, because of the haredim in his municipal coalition, who are forcing him to implement it," Lapid explained. "The businesses in Ashdod [which are open on Shabbat] are not in the haredi area, and now the current war in the city is because one sector is interfering in the lifestyle of another sector."
Regarding the investigations of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Lapid said, "We all understand that something is up, that the police may recommend something that does not allow Netanyahu to run the country. The Prime Minister cannot run important issues while he's in the middle of this mess. I respect Netanyahu, and I prefer to wait and see what happens."
Police are conducting two parallel investigations of the Prime Minister. The first, dubbed 'Case 1000', began in December 2016 and centers around claims the Prime Minister improperly received gifts from a number of wealthy businessmen.
In 'Case 2000' police are probing allegations that Prime Minister and Yediot Ahronot publisher Arnon “Nuni” Mozes conspired to soften the paper’s left-leaning anti-Netanyahu line in exchange for passage of legislation barring the free distribution of Israel Hayom, a rival paper that has cut into Yediot’s readership in recent years.