Josef Lapid
From Philosopedia
Josef "Tommy" Lapid (27 December 1931 - 1 June 2008)
Lapid, who was born in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia (today, Serbia), to a Hungarian Jewish family, headed the secular-liberal Shinui party in Israel from 1999 to 2006.
His family, seized by the Nazis, was deported to a Budapest ghetto, where his father died in a concentration camp. Lapid and his mother survived and, after serving in the Israel Defense Forces as a mechanic, he studied law at Tel Aviv University.
After being a journalist for Új Kele, a Hungarian-language newspaper, he became director-general of the Israel Broadcasting Authority as well as chairman of the Cable TV Union. In 1998, Lapid was awarded Israel's top award in journalism, the Sokolow Prize.
Lapid, who denounced Orthodox Jews as "parasites," headed Shinui, the Zionist, secular, and anti-clerical free market liberal party in Israel.
After losing a battle with cancer, he died, leaving his wife, novelist Shulamit Lapid, and their two children - a daughter, Michal, was killed previously in a car accident.
On Antisemitism
Lapid, when Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council, spoke at the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day 2007 on behalf of survivors.
Obituaries
Chicago Jewish News called him the Archie Bunker of Israeli politics.
Chicago Tribune described Lapid as a defender of secular Jews.
SiloBreaker called Lapid a Holocaust survivor, former Israeli justice minister, and outspoken critic of Israel's Orthodox religious establishment.
The Guardian described him as one of Israel's most colourful and controversial figures.
The Times (London) described Ariel Sharon's Justice Minister as being secular, not anti-religious.
