Miko Peled, the author of “The General’s Son - A Journey of an Israeli in Palestine” and "Injustice: The Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five,” joined Radio Sputnik’s Loud and Clear on Monday to discuss Gantz’s change of heart and the subsequent fallout from his broken promises.
Peled told hosts Brian Becker and John Kiriakou that he predicted that Gantz would eventually be working for Netanyahu when Blue and White was formed last year through the merging of Gantz’s Israel Resilience Party with Telem and Yesh Atid.
“He can’t outsmart Netanyahu. Netanyahu’s the best horse trader in the business. In Israeli politics, nobody is smarter, more experienced or more corrupt than he is,” he said. “And he’s got the ability to put things together. So not only does Benny Gantz end up going back on his promise to the voters - a promise that he’s made on three different campaigns … but Netanyahu also got him to completely dismantle the political alliance that he had with other parties.”
It’s worth noting that Yesh Atid and Telem left the alliance on Sunday and formed the independent faction Yesh Atid-Telem.
“[Gantz] lied to his constituents - three times. He reneged on all of his promises. He threw his allies under the bus. He turned out to be just as big a liar as any other major politician in Israeli politics,” Peled contended.
At the same time, he said, it’s not a surprise, considering the fact that Netanyahu was previously Gantz’s boss when he served as chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces from 2011 to 2015.
“He had to make a choice whether to renege on his promise to not sit with Netanyahu or renege on his promise to not rely on support from the Joint List, which is a predominantly Palestinian political party,” Peled pointed out.
He explained that now, all the “so-called left-Zionist groups” have also broken up, as many of their members have entered into their own negotiations to further their careers and be part of the government. The only politicians not engaging in this backtracking and who are showing a “backbone,” as Peled described it, by not attempting to get into Netanyahu’s good graces are the Palestinians with the Joint List.
Commenting on the news of Gantz’s alignment with Netanyahu, former Defense Minister of Israel Avigdor Lieberman said that he was caught off-guard by the switch, calling the move "wrong and even ludicrous,” according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
As fallout from Gantz’s backtracking is making headlines, some may suggest that the political news is overtaking information concerning public health. Cases of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus in Israel, particularly among its ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities, have been soaring in recent days. According to the New York Times, Tel Aviv’s Bnei Brak suburb - composed of 95% ultra-Orthodox residents - has seen cases almost double from 267 on Friday to 508 on Monday. Overall, Israel has reported 16 deaths and at least 4,695 COVID-19 cases.
