Why did a 'Jerusalem Post' poll indicate that Gadi Eisenkot is not a political asset?
By GIL HOFFMANKOCHAVI (RIGHT) and predecessor Lt.-Gen. (ret.) Gadi Eisenkot flank Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the chief of staff switchover ceremony. (Amos Ben Gershom(photo credit: IDF)
One of the reasons Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has lasted so long in politics is because of a smart move he made back in 2007 when he was leader of the opposition in the Knesset – after leading Likud to getting only 12 seats.Netanyahu had his confidant, MK Yuval Steinitz, pass what was known then as the Halutz Law, named after then-recently retired IDF chief of staff Dan Halutz.The law instituted a three-year cooling-off period for former generals and heads of security and intelligence agencies in an effort to prevent Halutz and his successors at the helm of the IDF from entering politics.The impact of the law has been that potential political opponents of Netanyahu have either entered business, made millions and lost interest in politics, or faced criminal investigations that have preempted their prospective political careers.Netanyahu’s opponents thought they had found the secret formula to defeating Netanyahu when Blue and White was created with three former IDF chiefs of staff at the helm in Benny Gantz, Gabi Ashkenazi and Moshe Ya’alon, who had made it through the cooling-off period unscathed. But it didn’t work – in part, because Blue and White’s own polls indicated that Israelis felt the safest under Netanyahu.It is with this background that a possible political career may begin for Lt.-Gen. (ret.) Gadi Eisenkot, who this week took his first post-army job in Israel as chairman of Yad Ben-Gurion, which carries on the legacy of Israel’s first prime minister by encouraging development of the Negev.Eisenkot only completed his term as IDF chief of staff in January 2019, but a loophole in the Halutz Law would allow him to run in the next election, even if three years have not yet passed. On paper, he has what every party would want: a strong military career, two parents born in Morocco, a childhood in the periphery and no clear political agenda.But a Smith Research poll published in Wednesday’s Jerusalem Post found that if the former general would enter politics, his impact would be negligible.Should Eisenkot take the poll personally, or is the public just fed up with former generals? Both answers could be true.“The public is sick of military men who understand the army but know nothing about politics,” said political adviser Moshe Konforty, who worked for Halutz. “We saw with Blue and White how they were outmaneuvered by experienced politicians. People have seen that most military men in our generation failed. The public does not want a general’s resume anymore.”
Eisenkot consistently avoided the media when he headed the IDF, and he did nothing to build up an image as a leader and a warrior that could later help his political career. If appearance still matters in politics in 2020, he does not have Gantz’s height or blue eyes, but he does have the girth of former generals turned politicians like Ariel Sharon and Binyamin Ben-Eliezer.Konforty said he has never met Eisenkot, but he would advise him to start humbly in politics and work his way up. He said Eisenkot should be No. 2 to someone experienced in politics like Yair Lapid, or work his way up through a democratic party, starting as an MK, then becoming a minister and only then running for prime minister.“Gadi needs to look at the mistakes of what the generals in Blue and White did and do the opposite,” Konforty said. “Those who learn the political trade and only then run for prime minister end up being much more successful.”
