New movement established to deal with nation's divide
A new public movement established by former education minister Shai Piron called 'Pnima' promises to tackle the rifts in Israeli society; it is joined by two former IDF chiefs, Ashkenazi and Gantz, who decided to shift their focus inward—which, coincidently, is the meaning of the movement's name.
Former education minister Shai Piron, former IDF chiefs Gabi Ashkenazi and Benny Gantz, high-tech entrepreneur Shlomo Dovrat and several other public figures announced on Monday they were launching a new public movement called "Pnima" (Inward), but emphasized that this was not a political party.
"Our starting point is that we have a wonderful nation. We are aware and thankful for the accomplishments achieved by Israel," said Piron. "Our main problem is the divide among the people. When you look at the reality we live in, you'll find many cases of polarization."
A study by the new movement, he said, found that 60 percent of Jews think that ultra-Orthodox Jews are exploiting the country, while 22.5 percent of Jews believe that leftists are dangerous.
"There are people, especially politicians, who make a living and even sometimes a fortune off of the mistrust among parts of the public. We are facing a dangerous divide, and that's what led us to establish Pnima," emphasized Piron.
Among the movement's goals, he said, was "to bring a million different Israelis together, and to bring these issues to everyone's attention; take back our daily agenda, which has been robbed from us."
"I served in the IDF with my friends for four decades," Gantz said. "I faced challenges and I can say that security-wise, Israel is strong and stable.
"In my eyes, our ability to live here constitutes a large part of the country's ability to face the difficulties that lie ahead. We're dealing with the question of 'how can we live next to each other—with each other?' It's a very important challenge. I chose to join Pnima and deal with this internal question instead of an external one."
Ashkenazi said "Israel is a wondrous story of people like my parents' generation, who dreamt, came, and built a nation. Our generation defended, developed and nurtured it. I think the challenge we face today is our social durability. Over the last few years, those who have been living in this society could not remain apathetic to the phenomena we see today. Part of it is living together, and that is endangered, eroding."
When asked if he plans to move on to politics in the future, Ashkenazi responded that "not everything needs to be political. I'm also not sure that would be the correct path. I think that this is the basic idea behind Pnima. We agree on a goal and work to improve the situation. I don’t think everything can be solved just through politics."
(Translated & edited by Lior Mor)
