In January 2019, Benny Gantz, former Chief of Staff, with a state image, who made many feel that he is a new breed of leader, shined into political life. After three election campaigns in which he failed to win over Balfour, he entered a coalition government with Benjamin Netanyahu. He had impressive achievements as Minister of Defense, he changed the equation in the Gaza Strip after difficult years and assembled a wonderful team around him: Ministers Hili Troper and Pnina Tamno-Sheta, MK Alon Shuster and more.
The question arises as to how the state camp party headed by him, which has an impressive team, including veteran and experienced political foxes such as Gideon Sa’ar and Ze’ev Elkin, and names such as former Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, Matan Kahana and MK Shirley Pinto – swings in the polls between 11 and 13 seats.
The answer is divided into two: the first part has to do with the fact that Gantz is surrounded by alternating advisers and leaders with whom he is leading a less than stately campaign, which does not suit him. In 2019, he ran on the ticket of a secular government under pressure from Yesh Atid and Yisrael Beitenu, and now he is running on the ticket of disqualifying Netanyahu, the religious Zionist party and the Joint List. In doing so, Gantz distances himself from the central message of his party at the time of its founding: to be the party of support and not the party of opposition, one that unites under its wings right and left, religious and secular, Jews and Arabs. It seems that Gantz felt the need to apologize for entering the government with Netanyahu during the corona crisis. Again and again he appears as a student apologizing to the center-left camp, for not fulfilling his mission in their eyes – to move Netanyahu. But not only does he not need to apologize, but the opposite: as part of the campaign he must emphasize the fact that he did not stand by in the face of the health and economic crisis.
The second part is related to his strategy, and the choice not to distinguish himself within the camp or the bloc: he does not emphasize his advantages against Lapid who lacks security experience, he does not appropriate his achievements in the “Dawn” operation as the one who woven and wove it, and even now, it was right for him to ask To pass the agreement with Lebanon only after the elections in an orderly and transparent democratic process subject to the broad agreement of an elected government.
Gantz must understand: niceness does not build leadership. While he supports Lapid, he may discover that Lapid “drank” his mandates. If he does not distinguish himself from the others and continues to declare the disqualifications of political actors instead of emphasizing that he is a former fighter who strives for peace and does not see any side as a target, Gantz will distance himself from realizing his ambition to become prime minister.