24 Comments
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EKB ✑️ πŸ•Ž πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ's avatar

It is hard not to vote for a former chief of staff who lost both a son and a nephew in the fighting in Gaza.

John Galt III's avatar

Really? Why?

Either Eisenkot is good for Israel or he is not.

That should be the only reason to vote for him or against him.

The Left hates Bibi and Bibi lost his brother Yoni in the famous Entebbe raid. That doesn't stop the Left from not voting for Bibi.

EKB ✑️ πŸ•Ž πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ's avatar

Well Israel has had 50 years of Bibi's political machinations. Maybe that has something to do with it. And losing Yoni is what got people to vote for Bibi in the first place. Only this time, Gadi was also chief of staff so he actually knows how to run the army.

John Galt III's avatar

How very exciting. We don't like Bibi so his replacement can be anyone. All righty then. Good luck with Eisenkot - Israel will need it.

EKB ✑️ πŸ•Ž πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ's avatar

Funny how you are an expert on Israeli politics. But somehow you think Gadi is leftist. Btw I’m an American, not Israeli. And Israelis get to pick their prime ministers like we get to pick our president.

Robert's avatar

You forgot Einat Wilf and the Oz party.

Max Dublin's avatar

Eisenkot will some day make a great Prime Minister if not this time around then perhaps the next. Bennet will never became Prime Minister for two reasons. First because he is a big liar. When he joined forces with Lapid he swore that he would not bring the Arab bloc into his coalition but then did precisely that and unfortunately the Arab leadership in Israelβ€” but not so much ordinary Arab citizensβ€” continues to be connected with nefarious Muslim forces that want to destroy the Jewish state. Bennet’s second big mistake was joining forces with Lapid who is a fool and arguably a traitor for giving away Israeli petroleum assets to Hezbollah occupied Lebanon for nothing in return. Losing a beloved son in war is rightly a big symbol in Israel but let’s not forget that Netanyahu lost his brother Jonathan who was a commander in the Entebbe hostage rescue mission. I can understand why by now Netanyahu has so many enemies but no one can match his skill set including communicating with indispensable American politicians. Who else has so skillfully addressed not one but two joint sessions of Congress? After the war is over then Netanyahu must be gone but not before. And even this long and painful war won’t go on forever.

Uzenstein's avatar

I don’t expect to see another PM as dominant as Bibi in my lifetime. And aside from Eizenkot and Bennett (forget Lapid and Golan), I think Liberman would be an effective PM. Also potentially in the wings are black swans like former Mossad head Yossi Cohen and Bibi confidant Ron Dermer.

And Israeli generals as a whole haven’t been good politicians or PMs (Sharon was ok but was elected as a war leader to end the Arab suicide bomber intifada).

As for the war? It’s been going on for 78 years…

DA's avatar

Liberman is a one-issue politician, and his issue is hatred of hareidim. I don't see him able to lead the country on the basis of hate. He has no other policies that I am aware of. As defence minister, he was a washout. What else has he accomplished as a politician?

Uzenstein's avatar

Actually as defense minister, he alerted the government about a decade ago to Hamas’ plans. And he was ignored. Indeed I remember reading back then about what Hamas planned to do, plans that unfolded almost exactly as expected.

Liberman a highly intelligent and astute guy, worked for Bibi for years, and is far from a single issue politician. As it happens, the Haredi draft is clearly an enormous problem that concerns not just him but all Israeli Zionist politicians of all stripes.

DA's avatar

I hear what you say. However, if Liberman was ignored, he wasn't very effective, was he? Additionally, I still stand by my statement that you can't lead a country on the basis of hate. Tommy Lapid couldn't get the votes to do it, Shulamit Aloni couldn't, Yair Lapid couldn't and I don't think Liberman can.

Uzenstein's avatar

I’m a Likudnik and let’s not kid ourselves about Haredi hatefulness and venom. They take for granted the millions of non Haredim who protect them, they riot and refuse to help the country, their own country, that defends them, while they piss on the IDF. And they draw swastikas on the flags of the Jewish State. This is what they learn from from their Rabbis. They’d never behave this way in galoos.

The awful cynical Haredi politicians have been milking Israel financially to the tune of billions, and are unwilling to give anything to a country they see as traif. They look down at anyone not frum as somehow less Jewish. And the non Haredi dati right is just as angry at them as Liberman.

If Haredim simply bore the burdens everyone else does, there would be no problem. On the other hand, the condescension of Haredim towards their fellow Jews wouldn’t disappear.

DA's avatar

I'm not really interested in discussing the hareidi problem. It has nothing to do with the topic at hand.

DA's avatar

I'm not impressed with Eisenkot. As Chief of Staff he advocated a failed policy. I don't see him being able to stand up to Israel's enemies. I am not aware of any of policies regarding anything except the current war. What does he have to offer the country? I can't think of any former general-turned politician who has been good for the country. I wouldn't take a chance on another one.

Bennett is a has-been. After his betrayal of his promise re sitting with Arabs, he'll never get another right wing vote. And the left wing has others to choose from. At any rate, any votes he gets will be siphoned off from the left, not the right.

John Galt III's avatar

Eisenkot - "Bibi's most dangerous rival"

I read the whole thing and I can't see:

1) Why he is dangerous

2) Anything new about him, I haven't read elsewhere.

What does he believe in?

What does he feel about Israel's enemies?

Does he support "Start-Up Nation" Israel or is he in the mold of the Socialist/Statist crooked Leftists like PM's Ehud Olmert and Ehud Barak?

Does he see Iran as a threat or a problem that can be managed, similar to the Left's treatment of Hamas prior to October 7th.

RabbiRL✍🏻RLBalfourStevenson's avatar

Sheer ZIONISTS will besickened by knee taking and ceasfires when JEWISH lives are at stake.

Bibi has got strong roots, the trunk, branches & leaves must draw from what Kahane inspired in my generation.

No matter how many knees we've taken the world's lies and envy (biden being the ultimate antisemite and deceiver... look what he chose to display as a JEWISH warrior (no sign of strength there, nauseating, degrading) the 'admiral' with a JEWISH name) and the bending to the whim of every country that brought our kin, telling them they would be protected and that it would be fior their own good (Alice Miller wrote of this) brought our own into their monsterous gas chambers from all the countries that mutilated, poisoned, humiliated and experimented on us turning our people into slaves.... well how about we all get over begging to be liked by the wicked ones who still hold blood libels as sacrosanct. We will NEVER truly be loved, even honored by the ones who wished us gone from the earth. Here's a line from Tolkien that rings it out ....

"There's no promise you can make that I can trust."

-Frodo to the gollum

The demons wish us to swing left.... left, right and center betray us at even the secnt of THE RING in their vicinity.

We need no kings, our kings were sworn to serve G-D.

The JEWISH troika I oray be manifest by G-D with Religious Zionists as strong as

Melech David!

Gail's avatar

My question is how Yair Golan has not been convicted of treason? Ditto Ehud Barak and several others. Their hateful activities left Israel specifically vulnerable to the 10/7 invasion of Hamas/Palestinian savages. Having lost our nephew's beautiful, brilliant wife, her mother and sister, I've lost something that once seemed inviolate. My respect for Israel. I never foresaw America falling to a corrupt facade of a once sovereign beacon of freedom, either. But I also believed all the blather about the UN, WEF, Trilateral Commission,CIA,etc was a " Right Wing Conspiracy Theory". I was wrong.

Freedom Lover's avatar

The only sensible and stable coalition would be the center right bloc with Bennett and Likud. But they won't serve with Netanyahu. Instead we have the anti Bibi bloc needing to court the left and Likud needing the extreme right. Neither of those coalitions is truly stable or truly represents the electorate.

bxpansive's avatar

To form a govt, is it necessary to appease the Haredi? Or another parasitic party degrading the medina?

Max Dublin's avatar

Eisenkot will some day make a great Prime Minister if not this time around then perhaps the next. Bennet will never became Prime Minister for two reasons. First because he is a big liar. When he joined forces with Lapid he swore that he would not bring the Arab bloc into his coalition but then did precisely that and unfortunately the Arab leadership in Israelβ€” but not so much ordinary Arab citizensβ€” continues to be connected with nefarious Muslim forces that want to destroy the Jewish state. Bennet’s second big mistake was joining forces with Lapid who is a fool and arguably a traitor for giving away Israeli petroleum assets to Hezbollah occupied Lebanon for nothing in return. Losing a beloved son in war is rightly a big symbol in Israel but let’s not forget that Netanyahu lost his brother Jonathan who was a commander in the Entebbe hostage rescue mission. I can understand why by now Netanyahu has so many enemies but no one can match his skill set including communicating with indispensable American politicians. Who else has so skillfully addressed not one but two joint sessions of Congress? After the war is over then Netanyahu must be gone but not before. And even this long and painful war won’t go on forever.

Les Vitailles's avatar

An alternative view of Gadi Eisenkot is in the essay by Ran Baratz below. He was an advocate of the "post-modern" military that focuses on breaking the enemy's morale by highly symbolic actions. This has been discredited after Oct 7 and the current IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir is emphasizing large-scale maneuvers again.

"Gadi Eisenkot, who in the 2006 war headed the IDF’s Operations Directorate, meaning he was in charge of operational plans. Eisenkot was a vocal opponent of any large-scale ground maneuver. His operational doctrine and Halutz’s were almost indistinguishable. Early in the campaign, he advocated for symbolic actions: β€œWe need to take a village . . . and put a battalion in it. What’s important is the symbol, the ability to do it and break the myth.”

https://ideas.tikvah.org/mosaic/essays/whats-wrong-with-the-postmodern-military