Blue and White leader Benny Gantz lathes election campaigns and he is not shy about admitting that. Still, with the March 23 election mere days away, Gantz, whose party is teetering on the brink of the four-seat electoral threshold – with some polls even predicting he will fail to cross it – expressed absolute faith in his supporters.
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Gantz, who under the national unity government inked with Likud only last year was supposed to be prime minister come November as part of a rotation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is convinced that the polls are skewed against him.
"We're looking at six or seven mandates, not four," he told Israel Hayom. "There are people out there who still believe in decency, honesty, and staying the course."
This has not been an easy year for Gantz as Israeli politics has emerged as the toughest battlefield the former IDF chief of staff has ever seen.
Since entering politics ahead of the 2019 elections, Gantz has to endure three election campaigns, an invasion of his private life by the media, a meteoric electoral rise and a monumental fall from political grace, down to the point of fighting for his political life.
He has also had to deal with public resentment from voters after he joined Netanyahu's government despite a campaign promise that he will not do so. Still, he is convinced that while voters are angry with him they appreciate what he did.
Still, faced with pressure to drop out of the race for the 24th Knesset – something guaranteed to boost votes for Yesh Atid, Labor and even Meretz – Blue and White's leader says his supporters urge him to keep going, even if that means another trip to the ballots later this year.
"What happened with Netanyahu was a big mistake and I don't deny it," he said. "I also know that come the next elections I won't be the prime minister, but that doesn't mean I'll never be the prime minister.
"Should I change just to ward off all the evil, all the attacks I had to deal with on all levels? If I change to please you [the public], if I become meaner will it counter Netanyahu or introduce a different type of politics? No.
"I know more about them [political rivals] than they know about me, but I'll never dare use it and that's what I explain to everyone who tells me that I have to go for the jugular."
Q: perhaps the dwindling support has to do with the fact that people are sure you will again join Netanyahu?
"No way. There's absolutely no chance I will sit [in the government] with Bibi," Gantz exclaimed. "He has to be replaced and who can replace him better than the man who stood up to him for three straight election campaigns and prevented him from doing things that would have left us much worse for wear? And if he gets elected again that could still happen.
"Netanyahu has many achievements to his credit, he's don't some great things for this country, and I don't like it when people demand that I call him "the defendant – that's not my way," Gantz said, referring to the corruption charges Netanyahu faces.
"The most important thing right now is to unseat him in the coming elections or Israel will face an endless election loop at best, and at worst – it will be subject to the control of Bibi and the radical Right."
Gantz makes no secret of the fact that he enjoys things like running and the theater much more than he does politics. So much so, that one has to wonder why he got into the political game in the first place.
"There's a difference between knowing something and actually experiencing it," he said. "If I tell you the water in the ocean are cold, you'll believe me, but you won't fully comprehend it until you actually get in the water. I needed to experience these things to fully understand them."
Q: Netanyahu is fighting tooth and nail to win and you, it seems, are taking things easier.
"I don't have the same drive as a man who wants to avoid a trial and potentially incarceration, that's true. Am I supposed to apologize for that? I knew one Netanyahu before 2016 and another afterward.
"Ever since his trial began Netanyahu has become a different person. They say I'm not vicious enough but when I got into politics, I stood in front of the mirror and promised myself that when I look in the mirror when I shave, have to be able to recognize myself – that I wouldn't let politics change me. Can Netanyahu say the same?"
Adjusting to the health guidelines and restrictions imposed over the coronavirus pandemic, Gantz has traded in election rallies for Web conferencing and TV studios.
His team works around the clock and seems much more anxious than the man himself, who insists that staying true to his point of view will one day lead him to the Prime Minister's Office.
Still, the past year has not been without its difficulties, and Gantz signals out two as particularly hurtful.
"The first one was when I saw the ad by people from my own camp," he recalled, referring to a full-page ad taken out in February by 130 people, including very high-ranking former defense officials, calling on Blue and White to drop out of election race.
"I was offended to my core, just as I'm offended that people from my camp are protesting against me. After all, I embarked on this mission for them, and they turn on me? Do you think something like this could happen in the Likud? Never.
"[Likud] voters, regardless of any criticism of the leader, always rally behind him in the moment of truth. This, by the way, is why I have greater sympathy in the Likud than in my political camp. They appreciate someone who doesn't zigzag."
The second incident has to do with the sudden departure of Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn from Blue and White.
Nissenkorn left the party to join the Israelis party under Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai. But the latter underperformed in the polls and quite, Nissenkorn decided to take a break from politics.
"I couldn't believe that I was unable to figure people out and what he did clearly demonstrated that I didn't know him. I fought for him to become the justice minister and he just gets up and leaves? I expected to be treated differently," Gantz said.
"Yes, I'm a politician and I was the chief of staff and I have life experience, but I'm still allowed to get hurt by people, especially when they pull something like this."
Q: You don't really mention the coronavirus or its death toll – not at over 6,000 – in your campaign.
"Netanyahu's management [of the coronavirus crisis] certainly has a part in this, but we're dealing with a pandemic here and I can't lie and say that these people died because of Bib.
"Did he make wrong decisions in dealing with the corona? I think that throughout the corona crisis Netanyahu made decisions based on the recommendations of the Health Ministry and other experts – up to the point when it affected his personal interests.
"When it came to that - between what the experts said and how it serves him - he made a choice that it would serve him, and there lies a very big problem in [crisis] management."
Q: Many have said that the decisions made during the coronavirus crisis were politically driven. You were there as the prime minister-designate. Can you say if that was indeed the case?
"Some of the decisions that were made were meant to cater to certain sectors. I think if I hadn't fought for him to listen to the experts, in his ideal scenario – he was willing to resume it [economic activity] just two weeks before the elections, and not a month ago as we fought to happen."
According to Gantz, "Netanyahu planned to lift them [restriction] during the last two weeks [before the elections and then if everything would be okay he could take credit, and whatever happens after the elections happens."
Q: When you say 'certain sectors' you mean mainly the ultra-Orthodox.
"The Haredim made a decision that was very painful for me – that they were a state within a state and that would follow only what ]halachic authority Rabbi Chaim[ Kanievsky said while we could only adjust," Gantz explained, referring to the blatant disregard the Haredim have shown the Health Ministry's guidelines, despite the fact that the community has been hit by COVID-19 particularly hard.
This has cause a major backlash in secular society and many have said that, fearing the wrath of ultra-Orthodox parties United Torah Judaism and Shas, Netanyahu preferred imposing a nationwide lockdown rather than one that applied only to Haredi cities confirmed as COVID-19 hotspots.
"I understand the needs of the ultra-Orthodox, I understand that for them, [Torah] studies trump all, but unfortunately, that is not the case for our camp. Bibi chose to align with the former. Does that justify the incitement we're currently seeing against the Haredim? Absolutely not. I find that type of discourse unacceptable. They are part of Israeli society and should be integrated – not alienated."
Turning his attention back to his rivalry with Netanyahu, Gantz said, "I hear he wanted to close the skies over Jordan to punish them. Hello, you're just a prime minister, calm down. This isn't a monarchy. The fact that Netanyahu allowed himself to trade vaccines with other countries, the fact that he brags about security operations while I remain silent – that just shows the political style that I bring has a place.
"I can't stand it when people say that politics is not for people who insist on the truth, or say what they think, or want to lead the country to a better place instead of just thinking of themselves.
"If that's the country that you want to live in, with those kinds of norms – go right ahead, but accept it. Just think about it – is that the kind of country you want your children to live in?"
Moral convictions aside, it remains unclear whether Gantz really thinks he can defeat anyone in the political game or whether he is really willing to do whatever it takes to win. Is there really a chance he could have the last laugh should the rotation agreement kick in?
"That's certainly a possibility, and that's exactly what Netanyahu is afraid of," he said. "That's why he pushed another election because in the current scenario he has to deal with a trial and the real possibility of jail time.
"If I'm not the prime minister, he could get 61 seats and Israel won't be as good a place in which to live, regardless of whether you live in Tel Aviv or Beersheba.
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