Many people are familiar with the medrash that says the Jews merited to be redeemed from the slavery in Egypt because they kept three aspects f their identity standing out as being different from the Egyptians. They kept their names, their language, and their style of dress. The truth is that this is not exactly what the medrash says, it is really a couple of different medrashim conflated, but this is what everyone basically knows.

The fight between Lapid-Gantz and Netanyahu continues. Gantz attacked Netanyahu for moving abroad while he himself was serving in the army defending Israel and, now famously, commented about Netanyahu's "Boston accent", as if saying Netanyahu is a foreigner, not qualified for the premiership.

Netanyahu and the Likud attacked back, touting Netanyahu's military credentials as he served in the special forces, as he fought terror and served his country in many ways.

Yair Lapid has now joined the fray, nearly referencing the medrash I mentioned above. Lapid attacked Netanyahu saying that after changing his name to Benjamin Nitai and moved to Boston (for a couple of years), and moved to Boston to work there, that is called emigrating and leaving Israel. Lapid tempers it saying that was also 40 years ago, so no big deal, just setting the facts straight.

The whole argument is silly, but Lapid's response made me think of the medrash.