Four months before Israel’s election, Yashar! chairman Gadi Eisenkot launched his party’s campaign Tuesday evening under the slogan “Israel must win,” vowing to expand the IDF, establish a state commission of inquiry and form what he called a “Zionist, unifying and worthy government.”
“There are those who for years have incited and inflamed, as though the people of Israel are not one people,” Eisenkot said at the campaign launch. “They promote moves that contradict the national interest and slap in the face the Israelis who work, serve and are prepared to sacrifice their lives for this home.”
Eisenkot did not mention Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by name in his speech, but directed sharp criticism at what he called “the leadership.”
“This is a leadership for which the words responsibility and personal example are foreign,” he said. “This is a leadership that lies, as though there is no alternative to the chaos in which we live, that fuels division as though it has no price. Its only way to govern is to separate us from one another.”
Eisenkot pledged to “increase the ranks of the army in order to significantly ease the burden on regular and reserve soldiers, without compromising security needs.” According to the party’s platform, Yashar! will promote legislation limiting reserve duty to up to 50 days a year, and no more than 150 reserve days over three years.
“We have a duty to put an end to this breakdown and ensure a responsible, shared transition into the next decade,” Eisenkot said. “The State of Israel has no privilege to make another mistake.”
(Photo: Ido Erez)
Yashar! party election campaign launch with Gadi Eisenkot
(Photo: Ido Erez)
He also vowed that Israel “will be a Jewish-democratic state embodying the principles of the Declaration of Independence,” and promised to immediately establish a state commission of inquiry “to uncover the truth, learn from the past and prepare for the future.”
“We must care for everyone harmed physically and mentally in the war,” he said. “For us, that is a first obligation.”
Without naming Netanyahu, Eisenkot said his party would replace “a leadership without vision or strategy, one that is paving the way to the loss of direction.”
“The leadership uses the term national unity as a cynical election campaign,” he said. “I will do everything to unite the people of Israel. Together with my partners, we will work to form a Zionist, unifying and worthy government.”
Eisenkot also criticized the government after the Knesset Committee approved for first reading the proposed Basic Law: Torah Study, which is intended to regulate exemptions from military service for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students.
“This week, too, the government again chose its survival at the cost of weakening the IDF,” he said. “That is not how someone who wants genuine Zionist unity behaves. Precisely at Israel’s most difficult moments, those who send our fighters to the battlefield are competing over who can curse and shout louder, who can flatter more or speak more harshly and contemptuously against public servants. For what? For another headline?”
(Photo: Ido Erez)
(Photo: Ido Erez)
“The government we establish for all Israelis will not defeat one side or elevate another,” Eisenkot added. “But it will know how to decide courageously on issues that are vital to our future and must be decided — security, the duty to serve and state education for all.”
During the event, party members presented Yashar!’s main policy plans. Matan Kahana presented the education plan, Shaul Meridor outlined proposals to strengthen the economy and lower the cost of living, Inbar Harush-Giti presented the party’s proposal for military and national service for ultra-Orthodox Jews and Arabs, former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen presented the national and personal security plan, attorney Inbar Yehezkel presented the plan for addressing post-trauma, and MK Orit Farkash-Hacohen presented proposals on aliyah and reversing brain drain.
The party said the plans were drafted by professional teams formed within Yashar! and led by its members after dozens of meetings with experts, academics, research and policy institutes, civil society representatives and professionals in the field.
Netanyahu said at a press conference Saturday night that his goal is to establish a broad national government.
“I think there are forces among us that want to create a rift in the people,” Netanyahu said. “They want to worsen and deepen misunderstandings, disagreements or divisions among us. We must make every effort to solve our problems through understanding and broad agreement.”
Eisenkot responded that there is “a great paradox” in Netanyahu calling for unity on Saturday night and then taking steps on Sunday that “divide Israeli society.”
“He is trying to establish a political commission of inquiry when nearly 70% of Israeli citizens want a state commission of inquiry, and he is continuing the reform that so divided society,” Eisenkot said. “The test is not in marketing and slogans, but in action.”