Avishai Ben-Haim: Gadi Eisenkot wants to be Prime Minister? Let him go to Likud

December 4, 2020   

After the proposal to dissolve the Knesset was approved in a preliminary reading, it appears that the new player who is set to enter the political game is former Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, who is expected - according to a published survey - to win 15 seats if he forms a joint party with Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai and former Minister Tzipi Livni. Just so you know: If you miss this crazy opportunity, you'll be a sucker.  Chat or phone: Why don't 'Maccabi' members have to run to the emergency room for everything?  Dr. Avishai Ben Haim, the commentator on Haredi affairs for News 13, who announced yesterday that he would vote for the party headed by Benny Gantz if additional elections were held, called on Eisenkot this week to join the ranks of the Likud party. Ben Haim spoke today (Friday) with Nissim Mashaal on his program on 103FM and commented on the matter: "A Mizrahi who wants to be prime minister can only try through the Likud. Even Mizrahi will prefer to vote for a candidate who is not Mizrahi. If there is a figure like Eisenkot in the Likud, it has enormous educational and awareness-raising importance.". Why do you think Gadi Eisenkot's natural home is the Likud party? ""I rely on several aspects that make me think that Eisenkot's natural home is in the Likud, and not with the left-wing parties. After all, I wouldn't tell Judge Meni Mazuz, 'Your natural place is in the Likud,' because his basic positions are not those positions. Eisenkot's positions are Likud positions, as is his moderate political and security approach. I think that there is no chance for someone who looks like Eisenkot to receive the votes of Israel First en masse. "In the article, I cite a series of places where we have seen attempts in the past to put someone like this at the head of Israel's First Party, like Itzik Mordechai, who in 1999 ended up with six seats, and Amir Peretz, because of whom Labor voters fled to Kadima in 2006. We saw in 2012 Shaul Mofaz who managed to be elected to Kadima, which was the central party, and we saw Avi Gabbay and even Avigdor Kahalani.". ""He certainly can't do it through the left, only in a right-wing party.". I'm telling you that the Moroccans themselves prevented David Levi. ""This is part of the fact that even Mizrahi people would prefer not to vote for Mizrahi people, just as women would not prefer to vote for a female candidate. This is part of the oppression and this is part of what we want to fix. I have an interest in repairing the world - if there is a figure like Eisenkot in the Likud, it has enormous cognitive and educational importance. "If there is a place that is Eisenkot's home, it is the other place - if he goes somewhere else, he will end up like Itzik Mordechai. He could be Netanyahu's number 2, there is an important struggle here for the second Israel and he needs to cooperate and come help.". It may be that Israeli society is not built to have a Mizrahi prime minister reign over it. ""I agree, but there is a need to address this issue and the fix needs to be in the natural house because there we have already seen that it won't work. If Eisenkot enters the Likud and sides with Bibi, then in the next generation there is a chance for real change.".