As a former military man and a nationalist who holds a few liberal positions, I am amazed at what goes on in Israel's left-wing camp.
One can argue against the directions the camp has taken and its ideas, just as one can sometimes attack the nationalist stance, but one simply cannot understand how the left-wing camp manages each time to destroy anyone who has taken a chance at serving as its leader of late, whether that be the late Prime Minister Shimon Peres; former Prime Minister Ehud Barak; former Labor leaders Amram Mitzna, Shelly Yachimovich, and Avi Gabbay; current Labor leader Amir Peretz; and now Blue and White head Benny Gantz.
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Gantz, a former IDF chief of staff who commanded over the Israel Air Force's commando unit, Shaldag, and the Paratroopers Brigade, has recently been called a "loser," "liar," traitor," and "evil" by members of the very same camp that once saw him as their only hope of salvation.
There's no doubt Gantz failed at the task at hand. He was unable to present a true political alternative, he's lost a lot of his political clout, his standing in the media is on shaky ground, and he is not at his best, to say the least. But why does the leftist camp insist time and again on taking out its leaders in such an incredibly brutal manner, and what can we learn from this practice?
After all, it is those on the Left who repeatedly select a new "idol" to fawn over and then throw them to the wolves shortly thereafter. What does that say about your choice and about your understanding of leadership and people in general? Is there any venerable person who would be willing to lead this camp today, with the understanding they are destined to be just another victim in a long and respected list of victims of the Left?
For a supposedly enlightened, tolerant, and pluralistic camp, what does its treatment of its leaders tell us? They are lightyears away from the values they purport to endorse. Above all else, they are disloyal, and they have no faith in the man they chose to call their leader.
Worst of all, they took people with excellent public service or military records, gave them their trust, and in a matter of months, managed to roll them into the dustbin of history as if they were nothing but a worthless piece of trash. This cannot be allowed to happen. I didn't vote for Gantz; I know him, and I know his abilities. Did you also know? Then what are you complaining about?
I won't get into the defense minister's political talents, but one thing I will say. He's a mentsch. He's a good, decent, and trustworthy person. He's a man who's very easy to work with. He listens, really listens. So he isn't the world's greatest politician, does that justify treating him like a doormat? There can be no other explanation than the Left suffers from a chronic case of self-hatred.
This man, like some of the others who came before him, dedicated 40 years of his life to the people of Israel at an unfathomable personal cost, and all it takes is seeing him serve five months in a political role for the Left to wipe him out as if he were nothing. It's outrageous. To think that only a few months ago, over a million of them voted for him in an election.
I am not a man of the Left, but I am an Israeli patriot. I voted for someone else, but I will never forget who Benny Gantz is. And I will never treat him the way you, his voters, are treating him now. It would seem that a man who led others for 40 years has more principles than those who are trampling all over him now.
As an Israeli, an officer, and a commander, I am ashamed of the way the leftist camp treats the people who have sacrificed so much for the state. When I see how they treat these people, with whom I have deep differences of opinion, I realize they never deserved to have them as their leader in the first place.
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