Yair Lapid Quotes
Intellectuals know how to answer the question, 'What God do I believe in?' not only through the question of 'What God do I abhor?' Intellectuals can also answer the question of 'What flag do I wave?' without having to answer the question of 'What flag do I burn.'
Lapid, Yair. "The flag we wave." Ynetnews, Yedioth Internet, 20 Nov. 2011.
At the time the Algerians leading the impendence movement were very secular, and were committed to modernity, multiculturalism and religious freedom and tolerance. Within Algerian Muslim society, there has been a constant battle against the right wing Islamic extremists and terrorists.
One of the ideas to implement the Partition of India to create a Muslim Pakistan was to have plebiscites in many provinces to vote on whether the Province should remain with India or be a part of Pakistan. The Punjab was the largest of the mixed religion areas in question but the Punjab governor was opposed to the idea as most of the voters were illiterate and the Pro Pakistan forces would couch the alternatives in stark religious terms to the Muslim voters who will not realize that they could remain as Muslims in India just as they were at the time. In a number of areas—Kashmir being the most notable—there were a majority of Muslims yet enough of them preferred to remain with India than be part of Pakistan as they were Islamic moderates and did not want to be part of a Muslim Pakistan that might pressure them or force them to a more rigid form of Islam. Also many valued democracy and religious freedom. Some doubted Pakistan's likelihood of thriving in its own and preferred the stability of India.
For many they are.
This quotation is often incorrectly given as “Patriotism is the religion of Hell.”
Yair Lapid is an Israeli politician and former journalist serving as chairman of the Yesh Atid party and opposition leader in the Knesset. He served as Minister of Finance from 2013 to 2014. Before entering politics in 2012, Lapid was an author, TV presenter and news anchor. The centrist Yesh Atid party, which he founded, became the second-largest party in the Knesset by winning 19 seats in its first legislative election in 2013. The greater-than-anticipated results contributed to Lapid's reputation as a leading centrist.
