“I understand the feelings of those disappointed with me, but the reality scenario, which is more challenging than the House of Cards, forced me to do it my way. And if this is the end to my political career but I get to serve the State of Israel well, then I have accomplished something!” These were the final words of a personal message that Blue and White leader Benny Gantz sent April 1 to the many members of his WhatsApp group who have been walking around for days with a sense of shock and rage, mourning his decision to join Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a power-sharing government.
Gantz wrote that while he understood his voters’ disappointment and anger, the option of forming a minority government was not viable and his former partner in the Blue and White leadership, Yair Lapid, was wrong in refusing to realize this. The left-wing political camp rebuffed his explanations with contempt, having crowned him as its savior, a clone of assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin who would restore the center left to power and to its glory days and finally bring down Netanyahu.