“Do we have anyone better than Netanyahu?” Almost every Israeli has come up against this question about a possible alternative to the prime minister, who has been steering the ship of state for the past decade. There was one potential helmsman, Lt. Gen. (res.) Benny Gantz, but though he had led soldiers on the battlefield for decades, three months were not enough time to win public trust in his ability to navigate. An “anyone but Netanyahu” agenda might have been good enough to pinch votes from Labor and Meretz on the left and even from center-right Kulanu. After joining forces with centrist Yesh Atid and establishing the Blue and White Party, Gantz put up a good fight. However, as the results of the April 9 elections prove, hatred of Netanyahu and dissemination of fear over the demise of Israeli democracy are not enough to wrest power from the right.
If Gantz and his fellow generals in the party leadership want to govern Israel, they should keep in mind Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s inspirational words, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” As the US president said in his 1933 inaugural address, fear “paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” War heroes such as Gantz and his co-leader Lt. Gen. (res.) Gabi Ashkenazi have retreated from the left like chocolate soldiers and uttered the word “peace” only under duress.
