Former IDF Chief of Staff and founder of the new Israel Resilience Party Benny Gantz on Tuesday launched his campaign to be prime minister, presenting himself as a moderate alternative to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with a message of unity at home, a search for peace and a tough line against the country's many enemies.
Gantz's speech included gestures to Israel's many population sectors – religious and secular, right-wing and left-wing, Arab and Jew – as well as repeated jabs at Netanyahu, who is facing the possibility of indictment in a series of corruption scandals.
"I love Israel. I'm proud of it and committed to it. For me, Israel comes before everything," Gantz said. "But I came here tonight because I'm also fearful for Israel. The people are strong, the country is wonderful, but there is an evil wind blowing in the land. The struggle between Right and Left is tearing us apart. The clashes between religious and secular are splitting us. The tension between Jews and gentiles is a threat to us – our commitment to each other is crumbling. The public sphere is being poisoned," Gantz said.
"The government encourages incitement, factionalization, and schisms …. He [Netanyahu] doesn't see the families who are struggling with the cost of living.
"Rather than serving the people, the government condescends to them. He [Netanyahu] doesn't see the working man or the working woman," Gantz said.
"The mere notion that in Israel a prime minister can remain in office while under indictment is ridiculous," Gantz said at a launch party timed to coincide with the evening TV news.
"No Israeli leader is a king," he said to wild applause, adding that Netanyahu could not continue to serve if indicted. Thanking Netanyahu for his past decade in office, Gantz said: "We'll take it from here."
The political newcomer has emerged as the most serious challenger to Netanyahu. Gantz is still untarnished by partisan politics and has been riding a wave of popularity, even while saying little and presenting a vague platform.
But the shine could quickly wear off following Tuesday's speech. Netanyahu took to Twitter to brand Gantz as weak. "Whoever says they are not right and not left – is left," he said.
Gantz also took aim at Netanyahu's recent confirmations of Israeli military action against Iran in Syria, saying: "Security is done in deeds, not in words."
Gantz took a tough stance on Iran and its allies in Lebanon and Gaza: "In the difficult, violent Middle East, no one pities the weak and only the strong prevail."
Gantz also vowed to take a different approach toward the Palestinians, whom Netanyahu has largely ignored while turning his focus toward Iran.
"The government I lead will strive toward peace and will not miss an opportunity to create a regional change," Gantz said.
But he also vowed tough action against Israel's foes, including Hezbollah and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which receives support from Iran.
He also said that Israel would never leave the Golan Heights or the Jordan Valley.
He said Israel would continue to develop settlement blocs in the West Bank and maintain its control of Jerusalem.
Gantz criticized Netanyahu's policies in the Gaza Strip, saying that Israel's actions to contain Hamas had also punished the civilian population.
He promised to allow humanitarian aid to Gaza and assist in economic development. "But I won't allow protection payments of money in suitcases," he said, referring to Netanyahu's agreement to allow Qatar to deliver tens of millions of dollars to Hamas in exchange for pledges of quiet.
In one of the few political ads he has put out, he stressed how as military chief he pummeled Hamas in Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014.
Recent polls show Israel Resilience coming in second to the Likud in a crowded field of contenders in the April 9 Knesset election. A second-place finish would position Gantz for either a top cabinet post in a Netanyahu-led coalition or to be a high-profile opposition leader.
In the past three decades, the only prime ministers to emerge from the Left were both former military chiefs – the late Yitzhak Rabin and Ehud Barak. On Tuesday, Gantz introduced a new political ally, Moshe Ya'alon, another former IDF chief and former defense minister.
"The appeal of the generals is beyond rational, it is emotional," said Amir Bar-Or, an expert on civil-military relations in Israel at Sapir College.
"Everyone in Israel knows that security comes first, so the only realistic alternative to Netanyahu is a military man," Bar-Or said.
"History teaches us that generals have the best chance of passing the test of public confidence," said Yohanan Plesner, head of the non-partisan Israel Democracy Institute and a former lawmaker and military commando.
Martin Dempsey, a retired U.S. army general whose tenure as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff mirrored that of Gantz as IDF chief chief between 2011 and 2015, told Reuters he believed Gantz would bring "an open mind to change" and have the "instincts to build a team to solve the most urgent challenges."
