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Photo: Kobi Gideon/GPO
Benny Gantz and PM Netanyahu
Photo: Kobi Gideon/GPO

Former IDF chief: Netanyahu 'deserves to be PM if not indicted'

Benny Gantz, who presided over Operation Protective Edge, says it's too easy to criticize from the sidelines, but advocates legislation for a limited term for any prime minister; 'It is the hardest job in the state. Being in power too long produces a kind of numbness.'

The former IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz said Tuesday that if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is elected again and no criminal indictment is submitted against him, “he deserves to be prime minister.”

 

 

“It is the hardest job in the state. It is very easy to sit on the sidelines and to hit whoever is doing his duties,” Gantz said during a speech at a conference held in the Sapir Academic College.

 

Netanyahu is facing a string of corruption investigations, and in February, the Israel Police announced there is sufficient evidence to indict him for bribery, fraud and breach of trust in two cases against him, Case 1000 and Case 2000.

 

Benny Gantz and PM Netanyahu (Photo: AP)
Benny Gantz and PM Netanyahu (Photo: AP)

 

However, the former IDF chief, who presided over Operation Protective Edge in 2014, said that he advocated a term limit on the premiership, a measures that has been pushed by many in the opposition. 

 

“We have to make a law limiting governmental terms. I am talking about any prime minister. I’m not only talking about Bibi,” he added, using Netanyahu’s nickname.

 

“Being in governmental positions over time produces a kind of numbness and a reasonable term limit is the right thing,” he continued, before telling his listeners that he was considering running in the next elections.

 

“I am seriously considering running but now there is no need to decide whether to or not," he said, seemingly in reference to the coalition's last-minute success in averting early elections amid a governmental crisis.

 

 (Photo: Kobi Gideon/GPO)
(Photo: Kobi Gideon/GPO)

 

Gantz also discussed the humanitarian march that is expected to take place during the Passover seder (feast) at the end of the month from Gaza to Israel, amid fears that thousands of residents from the coastal enclave will attempt to forcefully cross the border.

 

“I know that the security apparatus will provide the answer. We cannot allow this to be the method. I hope that nothing will develop that will require us to use massive force in order to prevent it, but if there’s no choice, it’s also an option,” he said.

 

PM Netanyahu,  Benny Gantz and former Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon during Operation Protective Edge (Photo: Kobi Gidon, PMO)
PM Netanyahu, Benny Gantz and former Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon during Operation Protective Edge (Photo: Kobi Gidon, PMO)

 

Addressing the humanitarian crisis gripping the strip, Gantz placed full responsibility with the ruling party of Hamas. “We cannot take the blame for this,” he asserted, adding that it remained important to assist the residents and to offer them work inside Israel despite the inherent risks.

 

“There are people there. It isn’t a technical issue. It is a human one and people ultimately need to see hope, and we need to create that hope," he argued. 

 

"Indeed, the majority is with Hamas, but we need to work to find infrastructural solutions. It’s important because this also helps us. We need to bring workers from the strip to the State of Israel. There is a certain risk but it creates good neighbors.”

 

Finally, he said he was pessimistic about the sustainability of the current situation in which so many ultra-Orthodox people and Arabs are not in the workforce.

 

“Fifteen per cent of the workforce carries more than 50% of the economy because of the Haredim and Arabs due to education. This won’t last in 20 years,” he predicted. 

 


פרסום ראשון: 03.20.18, 12:42
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