You’re the head, everyone is guilty

“You’re the head, you’re guilty” is a poster that keeps Netanyahu up at night. It is blunt, it hurts, and it is effective. The people behind it are the 1973 Yom Kippur war combatants, people in their seventies who are fighting for the country’s soul. These former soldiers are part of a wider campaign by protest organizations demanding elections now. In their eyes, Netanyahu, who is at the mercy of extremists Itamar Ben Gvir and Betzalel Smotrich, forms an existential danger, prolongs the Gaza war indefinitely for political reasons, and remains indifferent to the fate of the hostages. This is in addition to the planned Conscription Law that exempts the ultra-orthodox from serving in the army, the state budget that favors settlers’ needs at the expense of war victims, and the relentless attack by cabinet members against chief commanders of the security forces. All this boils the blood of protestors, who see Bibi as the primary person responsible for the October 7 disaster.

However, the demand for “elections now” seems disconnected from the political reality created after Black Saturday. On that day the full-on right-wing government completely stopped functioning, the military command was shocked and awed, and the only way to save the country was through formation of a war cabinet and inclusion of moderate Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot in the government. From that moment the right-wing government completely ceased to exist, the Judicial coup d’état was buried, and Netanyahu returned to his natural position as the balancing factor between the extreme right-wing and moderate camps. The only way for elections to take place by the summer, as the protesters demand, is to create a majority in the Knesset that will vote no confidence in the government. Undoubtedly, the first step to accelerate such a move would be the departure of Gantz and Eisenkot from the government. This would fatally harm Netanyahu’s legitimacy, both on the local and international levels, and the path to disintegration of his coalition would thus be shortened.

Surprisingly, the protesters are not demonstrating in front of Gantz and Eisenkot’s homes, demanding they resign from the government. Rather, they demand that the two continue serving in the war cabinet. The reason for this is also clear. Their resignation may lead to dissolution of the Knesset and elections in the summer, as protesters demand. However, in that case the government of Netanyahu, Ben Gvir and Smotrich would continue to serve as a transitional government for many months. Such a government is everyone’s nightmare. Security establishment officials would be viciously attacked on a daily basis, the hostages abandoned in captivity, the right-wing would run amok, and disasters of all kinds would occur. This is the root of the matter. If Gantz and Eisenkot do not resign from the government at this time, Bibi and his ultra-Orthodox and messianic partners will have no reason to bring forward the elections. It is no coincidence that Netanyahu announced that elections will be held as scheduled, in three years. The protest organizations’ position that Gantz and Eisenkot should remain in the government expresses a broad public sentiment. This unity is currently needed, and that is why the demand for elections now is not gaining momentum.

The truth is that Gantz remains in the government not only because of this need. There is broad agreement between him and Netanyahu on the nature of the war’s course and its goals. Not long ago Gantz clearly announced that “the war will continue until all our goals are achieved”. This means, until the Hamas government and its military capabilities are decimated, and all the hostages are returned. Until an agreement is reached with Hezbollah in Lebanon, Gantz and Eisenkot will likely continue to serve in the Netanyahu government. If the protestors’ accusations are true, meaning that Netanyahu is deliberately working to prolong the war indefinitely, abandoning the hostages, and sacrificing relations with the US because of political considerations, every additional day of Gantz and Eisenkot in the government would be no less than a political crime.

From all of Gantz’s statements to date, it is impossible to discern any fundamental differences of opinion between him and Netanyahu. Not regarding the need to expand the war to Rafah, the rejection of Hamas’ terms for the hostage deal, and recently supporting the government’s rejection of unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state, contrary to the position of the Biden administration.

The partnership between Gantz and Bibi has continued over many years. Although Bibi is the primary person responsible for the concept that preferred to feed the Hamas monster and to starve the Palestinian Authority, Gantz, in his role as Chief of Staff and then as Minister of Defense in the Netanyahu and then the Bennet’s Change governments, was a full partner to the concept that shattered on October 7.  Gantz’s position as an alternative prime minister in the Netanyahu government minister was no accident. The political differences between him and Netanyahu were and remain miniscule.

As someone entrusted with Israel’s security for over a decade, and for the historic failure that put Israeli society in existential danger, Gantz also bears responsibility. Today, as Netanyahu’s full partner in conduct of the war, Gantz has no alternative political program. His position regarding a Palestinian state is consistent with that of Netanyahu. He might have preferred to go easy on Biden and tell him “Yes, but” instead of a resounding “No,” but that doesn’t change the essence. Gantz is willing to compromise with the ultra-orthodox to draw them to his side, and he has no socio-economic alternative plan to the neoliberal one that Netanyahu has been leading for the past twenty years and which led to the destruction of public services.

That is why the demand for elections now, and the attempt to reproduce the protest against the Judicial coup d’état of 2023 are not gaining momentum. Democracy – the slogan of the previous protest, touched upon an irreversible threat to Israel’s political regime, and it thus succeeded in drawing crowds. A decisive majority was clear that democracy is a supreme value that ensures civil freedom. The call for elections without adding to it political content seems like a magical solution, the whole purpose of which is to get rid of Netanyahu without presenting a political alternative.

Representatives of the protest claim that elections can be held while the war against Hamas continues, thus rendering Netanyahu’s removal as more important than the defeat of Hamas. It is possible they believe that as long as Netanyahu is in office, it is impossible to defeat Hamas, or alternatively, that contrary to what Gantz claims, it is impossible to defeat Hamas. In both cases, elections do not solve the existential problems of Israeli society. If Hamas prevails, it will be a huge victory for Iran and its proxies and will put an end to any peace settlement with the Palestinians. If, however, Netanyahu had been an obstacle to defeating Hamas, the protest should have demanded that Gantz and Eisenkot resign from the government immediately.

It is difficult to predict how events will unfold, but we can be sure of one thing: Netanyahu is finished. As Eisenkot said, “He doesn’t need to take responsibility – it’s on him from the moment he swore allegiance.” The question that has not yet been decided is what will happen to Hamas, and this is what will decide the fate of relations between Israelis and Palestinians. As long as this question remains open, any attempt to present a political alternative to the extreme right will remain solely theoretical. The call for a Palestinian state and peace with Saudi Arabia, as Biden wants, or alternatively a single, egalitarian democratic state for Israelis and Palestinians, are hopeless possibilities as long as Hamas remains the spokesman of the Palestinian people. Hamas is not an existential danger only to Israel.  It has proven to be an existential danger to the Palestinian people themselves, while Iran and its partners are an existential danger to the peoples of the entire region. Hamas is an affiliate of Iran, and the Iranian regime has made the lives of millions of its citizens hell. Therefore, the war in Gaza will not only determine the fate of Israeli society, but the fate of the Palestinians and the entire region. Elections? Yes! Now? – This depends more on the decision of Gantz and Eisenkot than on demonstrations in the streets right now.  

Print Friendly