Yuval Diskin. Will he end up like Kadima or Shinui?
Photo: Tzvika Tishler, Yedioth Ahronoth
Can Yuval Diskin save Israel?
Former Shin Bet chief is likely seeking to head new centrist party, writes Shimon Shiffer, but does he have what it takes not to quickly sink into oblivion?
Former Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin
asked in an op-ed this week on Ynet, "What sort of state do we actually want?" One might say that this was Diskin presenting his business card ahead of a possible move into politics.
I don't wish to discourage the former Shin Bet chief, but our political history has seen quite a few cases of deep disappointment from figures who emerged and speedily took center stage, but then vanished into oblivion at the end of a short term. Sometimes the disappointment was mutual: Both theirs and ours.
In light of his contempt towards some of the existing players, one can assume that Diskin wants to lead a new political party, which will sweep across what is defined as the center of the political map.
Opportunism and Now-ism
Yuval Diskin
Op-ed: Former Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin makes a plea for the silent majority to reclaim the country.
A weighty biography was recently published about Major-General (res.) Aharon Yariv, who headed the IDF's Intelligence Directorate during the Six-Day War, and ended his term about a year before the Yom Kippur War. Many saw Yariv after his release from the IDF as a natural candidate to join Israel's political system and leadership. But Yariv learned, the hard way, that Israeli politics waits for no one. The doors were not opened generously. Quite the contrary.
The first to intercept and push him aside were his former IDF colleagues, led by Yitzhak Rabin. After a short and painful experience in positions on the margins of the first Rabin government, a frustrated and bitter Yariv retired from the executive authority, and found himself heading a research institute at Tel Aviv University.
Moreover, parties born out of frustration at what is happening in the traditional parties, the Likud or Labor, have not had asuch a great fate either. Look what happened to Kadima and Shinui, and what could well happen to Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid. These parties, usually defined as "one-time" parties (or "two-time" if they're lucky), come and go, and ultimately make way for the next political movement to draw on the pool of voters that can yield as many as 20 Knesset seats.
Diskin is regarding events in Israel with authentic pain. The big question is whether he has the patience needed by anyone seeking to take the helm of leadership. Can he gather a diverse group of candidates around him, and - most importantly – will he be willing to be part of a new list even if it is not led by him?
There is no doubt that the parties current at play will not invite Diskin to lead them, but at the most will suggest that he become part of the existing leadership. It's enough to see what is happening around the not very important question of who will be the next candidate to replace Shimon Peres in the President's Residence: The politicians don’t want to hear about any candidate from outside the Knesset.
Nevertheless, it seems that after Netanyahu's third term as prime minister, there is more openness than before about new candidates to lead the state. If Likud is smart enough to bid farewell to Netanyahu and choose one of the mid-generation ministers as leader – I don’t want to harm the possible candidates, so I won't mention their names – it's possible that the changing of the guard in the state's leadership will happen organically. But if we are left with Netanyahu for a fourth term, it isn't too a wild guess to point at Diskin as a worthy candidate with a reasonable chance.
And remember, we have yet to say a word about former Likud minister Moshe Kahlon, who is working covertly with great determination to gather a team that could challenge the existing parties, and lead to a historical change in the State of Israel.
