Benny Gantz, whose new Resilience party is gaining ground against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud in the April 9 general election, considered the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a security issue that can be settled.
In his first bold interview since entering politics, the former top general denied that the Israeli presence in the West Bank is an “occupation,” rejecting the use of such a terminology.
“The central question is a security question. We need to ensure the State of Israel’s security. Now, we have here a question of interests – and even Bibi [Netanyahu] said this at his Bar Ilan address [in 2009] – that we don’t want to rule over anyone else. We need to find a way for us not to be governing other people,” he said.
The latest Israeli poll has shown that Gantz is capable of defeating Netanyahu in the election. It indicated that a united Gantz-Lapid list would win 36 of parliament’s 120 seats, ahead of Likud with 32.
The poll showed the New Right getting nine seats and the two ultra-Orthodox parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism, getting six each, while Labor would get only five seats and Meretz and Gesher would fail to cross the electoral threshold.
Running separately, the same poll found that Gantz’s Israel Resilience would get 24 seats and Lapid would get 10. However, Meretz would get four seats. In this scenario, Likud would get 32 seats, the New Right would get nine, the Joint (Arab) List seven, lawmaker Ahmed Tibi’s Ta’al would get six, Shas, UTJ, Jewish Home and Labor would each get five. Israel Beytenu and Kulanu would get four each. Gesher would still fall below the threshold.
Asked who they preferred to see as prime minister, 48 percent of pollsters chose Netanyahu, 35 percent Gantz and 17 percent did not know.
