Inside Israel Today: A General Without Elbows?

you're listening to inside Israel today with your Hoffman on the land of Israel Network hello and welcome today on the land of israel network on the land of israel comm where the election in israel is getting closer there was some strange hope for about 12 hours or so that maybe just maybe our election was going to be canceled 85 days before the election and maybe the Knesset members would realize that they had made a terrible mistake that no one really wanted an election anyway the election wouldn't change anything and maybe the people of Israel want there to be a national unity government of the two largest parties that they gave 70 out of the 120 Knesset seats - and so there was this process of looking into it that got leaked to the nightly news here that put everyone into a frenzy I was in the middle of covering and uh convened a convention of the Labour Party at the time where it was kind of a sleepy kind of event with not a very big turnout where people weren't very excited about what was going on at the event and people started talking about what they were getting pushes from from the nightly news onto their phone and thinking maybe this whole event where we're electing a new leader of the Labour Party maybe it's all a waste of time because maybe we're just going to keep the Knesset as it was but sure enough it turned out that this was just a conversation in the hallway between a Knesset member from Leawood and a Knesset member from blue and white that they decided to look into legally whether it could be done legally it can't be done apparently unlike other bills that could be just voided in the bill that initiated the Knesset dispersing really did disperse the Knesset so unfortunately here I'm giving an opinion unfortunately we are stuck going to a second election on the 17th of September now I want to focus on it in the first part of this program is one of the keys of defeating Netanyahu over the last couple shows we've talked about in this new yahwah's weaknesses a little bit that could make the election more exciting or more interesting obviously without giving any opinion on and who should win but today's show I really want to get into the competition to Netanyahu because you know Donald Trump said during the campaign when he ran that he could murder someone in Fifth Avenue and people would still vote for him and that might still be the case for Netanyahu as well especially if there is no serious alternative and that's where Benny Ganz comes in I remember speaking to three years ago to a Knesset member at the time who is a neighbor of any gas and we were talking politics about what was gonna happen the years ahead and I start talking about men against about how he's going to be the candidate for Prime Minister and everything the entire center left is gonna rally around him and the Knesset member who is his neighbor and knew him well and said no way not gonna happen really why the guy's a former chief of staff of the IDF he has charisma he's really tall he has those powerful blue eyes why not and the guy said well but you gotta look down from the blue eyes and it get to the middle of that very tall lanky figure and noticed that he has no elbows no elbows yeah politicians need elbows in Israel and he will not be able to fight for anything he is a non-confrontational he's someone who's gotten all of the promotions in his military career because they fell into his lap after other people fought and tarnished themselves including the job of chief of staff of the IDF itself i if been against doesn't have it then netanyahu could win the election more easily than people think so let's go to yesterday on Monday I covered a meeting of the blue and white faction in the Knesset that they held ahead of a parliamentary session a special session called during the Knesset dispersal to discuss budget cuts that were taking place at the same time in the prime minister's office because the economy is not doing as well as people thought before and in part because of the spending on this election they have to cut the budget and so Bennigan's had this ripe opportunity to really speak to the people of Israel about the problem that there is with Netanyahu in his government and he really failed either he wrote or somebody wrote for him very nice words about how the elections are necessary and how Netanyahu is wasting the taxpayer money and maybe that could resonate with people but not if you make a very big gaffe so he's in the middle of speaking and he all of a sudden says the people of Israel are stupid what then he corrects himself right away and says not stupid the Hebrew words uh at Ceibal matoom Tom momentum Tom oh no you can't get away with that that's not the kind of mistake any politician can get away with making in any country let's play the tape so you could hear it for yourself because I couldn't believe it when I heard it maybe see boomer to low become tough because of that tape ladies and gentlemen that's what people heard from what Benny Ganz said not all the legitimate criticism of the government that he wants to replace not anything about how blue and white is gonna stay unified despite reports about them fighting only the public is stupid and perhaps not stupid enough if you want to win an election when you say things like that and it just shows the inexperience of Benny Ganz as a candidate against Netanyahu Netanyahu has been in politics now since the late 1980s he's never done anything that's stupid you can't catch him obviously the most of the reporters don't like him very much and he doesn't like them very much they are out to get him and he is out to get them any little mistake would be totally highlighted the number two in blue and white Yair Lapid tweeted something about Israel being a state of all of its citizens his point was something about rights for gays and lesbians but a state of all of its citizens is interpreted by Israelis to mean not being a Jewish state anymore and having the Islamic religion have just as much rights as the Jewish religion and things that are controversial here it means the opposite of being a Jewish state and means only being a democracy and he started getting criticized for saying this lipid and then he went on Twitter and admitted my wording was wrong this is what happens when you tweet between getting out of the shower and drying yourself he actually admitted that that's what he does he thinks about something in the shower and tweets before he is even dry ladies and gentlemen this is the competition tune it in yow he could be Prime Minister for life remember he's only 69 and his father died at 102 I'm one more statement from Benny guess we don't have a video of this because it happened during the question answer session after the speech and as parties tend to do they tend to put online only what their politicians said now how he answered the questions of the press afterward and I have not actually been able to find a tape of the question/answer part that I witnessed there was a question about whether an Arab party could join a coalition and in the previous election just two months ago blue and white ruled out an Arab party joining a coalition led by them here Benny Ganz said actually I'd be fine with him joining a coalition which is a 180 degree turn which is a problem but not the biggest problem and what he said then he starts speaking empathetically about the arab sector and what they're going through which is beautiful true the arab sector does suffer as do other sectors in israel that they are more poor than other sectors they do have more violence than other sectors internally amongst themselves and that's when he started making a mistake he compared the crime and the murders that there are in the Arab sector to Chicago and Detroit I'm sitting there in the crowd about 10 feet away from him me that the proud native Chicagoan and I'm listening to the candidate for Prime Minister insult the people of Chicago and Detroit and I'm thinking okay there are a lot of murders in Chicago and there are a lot of murders in Detroit but there are different ways of saying it you could say statistically the numbers are getting closer and and you could find a way to say it without being insulting of Chicago in Detroit but he really said it in such a way as if Chicago and Detroit are these terrible places and we don't want the Arabs to be like them this is a problem in both directions where you're comparing I don't think Chicago want to be compared to the Arabs in Israel I think the Arabs in Israel want to be compared to the inner cities in Detroit this is just not what you do this is where you have an advisor say don't say that he doesn't have such a thing right now and this just leaves open the possibility that later on he's gonna say even more problematic things and yair lapid will say problematic things and Moshe Ya'alon who's a I think the smartest of the of the leaders of blue and white really cerebral guy was number three on the list he also because he gets emotional when he believes in something strongly could say something that he'd regret to if there are 84 days between now and September 17th and the election is not going to be canceled and there won't be a last-minute national unity government formed between liquid and blue and white and then it could very well be that it won't be because of any facts on the ground changing of a Vig nor Lieberman no longer being willing to work with Netanyahu of the economy being eleska than it was a few months ago or Israelis holding accountable Netanyahu for campaign promises that he made last time and then broke it could be that Netanyahu's victory could happen not because of anything about him at all but just because the alternative to him proves incompetent stay with us after the break speaking of incompetent when we talking about a labor party on a very special edition of Israel uncensored with Josh hastin the New England Patriots arrived in Israel here exclusive interviews from Julian Edelman Drew Bledsoe Ty Law and more what does it mean for you to be in Israel he's allotted me to come to the Holy Land and actually see American football it's pretty heartwarming to come out here and have all these rally fans screaming your name it's such an amazing combination of brand-new and very old and the soulfulness spirituality here for more coverage of the touchdown in Israel events in Jerusalem listen to Israel uncensored on the Land of Israel network at the Land of Israel calm [Music] and we're back here on inside Israel today on the Land of Israel network on the Land of Israel calm where we are in the middle of an exciting Israeli election we are only 84 days away from when the people of Israel will have a day off to relax and go to the beach and I will work my toshi off and I've already started working that toshi off because there is an election taking place as we speak for leader of the Labour Party that is the only one of two parties that will be having a contest for the leadership of a party ahead of the election the other one being merits which my colleague Jeremy sharone will be covering on Thursday the election for a leader of the party of that formed the country labour and will be happening on July 2nd which is already next Tuesday and right now as we speak it being Tuesday there we is a mad frenzy going on because deadlines are happening today I'm taping this at 8:30 in the morning is real-time 4:00 p.m. is the last chance to join the Labour leadership race producer sitting next to me join the Labour leadership race anything can happen people listening if you thinking this is gonna be online like a couple hours before join the Labour leadership race anything can happen any they'd elect anyone they picked avi gob I it's someone extremely uncharismatic who had very little to sell to the people of Israel and if he can get elected anyone and their cousin could be elected right now the candidates are it's actually-- Amir Peretz and Stav Shaffir Amir Peretz is the most well known of the three being a former defense minister former candidate for Prime Minister and leader of the Labour Party himself with a trademark moustache he's remembered negatively because of the killers that he looked through with the ends of it closed and bad picture to be taken for any politician but he's also remembered very fondly for the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system that he advanced his Minister of Defense which protects his own house and stay wrote in the Gaza periphery Mir Peretz is now over 70 is a veteran leader he first got elected to the Knesset back in the 1980s and he's the longest-serving Knesset member that we have right now and that this would be labor going in a way backward to a leader it that it had before into a previous generation whereas the other two candidates Stav Shaffir and it sexually are the younger generation they're in their 30s and it's extremely 39 Stav Shaffir is 34 they are the leaders of the 2011 socio-economic protests that rallied people around the country to go out in the streets and protest the cost of living being way too high especially the apartments in Jerusalem Tel Aviv and they made a name for themselves that way and used it to enter politics and labor now they did fight amongst themselves a lot back then when they led those protests and even as they went in the same direction into politics and into the same party they did not speak Stav Shaffir and it's extremely smelly told me a couple days ago he said I didn't speak to Stav for eight years that's a very serious conflict ladies and gentlemen I've seen a lot of conflicts in Israel and where people insult each other and everything but eight years Wow so this is going on right now this election the labor convention it was two days ago Shmuel II said Stav drop out of the race you can't win it's between me and Amir Peretz we can join together and Dobbs said Shmuel he told me something else when we met a month ago we talked about him joining me and me being the candidate to run and so now they're fighting over what happened behind closed doors the one time that they did meet yeah over the last eight years this could clear the way for Amir Peretz to win and the way it's looking is that no matter who over the three will win they will join labour together with some other conglomeration of parties on the left and will be formed ahead of the August first deadline to submit list for candidates to the Knesset it's extremely who is very popular in the labour party and very respected among the people of Israel for someone who fights socio-economic battles successfully and has passed a lot of legislation helping poor people chances are he would agree to make away and it really gave this impression when I spoke to him for a would Barak the former prime minister to be the candidate of this of the left now Barak himself is not popular among the people of Israel there's a lot of bitterness toward him that he wasn't exactly a good Prime Minister I think this era Netanyahu might be the only person less popular than they would Barak today but Barak much more and then it's actually is a very very powerful speaker very very critical of Netanyahu knows how to express the opposition to Netanyahu even if he is the shortest serving prime minister in Israel's history and who was blamed for taking Israel out of Lebanon haphazardly and for being someone who makes decisions off-the-cuff in in a way that ends up being regretted later on and apparently also tried to get on the way too much of Israel destroying the nuclear reactor in Syria despite all that look if you're looking for someone who could really cause a dent in that's in the Ouse armor it would Barack was the only person who's ever beaten Netanyahu in an election could be the guy to do it now that wouldn't mean that he would become the Prime Minister but he could hurt Netanyahu enough potentially that could make the blue and white party be able to form a government if they don't keep on screwing up so 4:00 p.m. today deadline to join the labor leadership race but you can then join Barack's party if you don't end up joining the labor leadership race midnight Tuesday night between Tuesday and Wednesday is the last time to join the labor party in order to be able to in order to be able to vote in the Labour leadership race next Tuesday it's very rare that you have this one day kind of membership drive so all the candidates are frantically trying to sign up as many people as they can today I encourage my listeners and my readers in The Jerusalem Post to be involved in Israel's democratic process if you are a citizen of the state of Israel living here I don't tell people what party to join but I do want people to be involved civically and so if your views are anywhere near the views of the Labour Party you have a chance today to affect the democratic process by becoming a member of the party or by joining the race and getting to decide who will be the the ninth leader of the Labour Party since they would Barak lost his reelection campaign for prime minister in 2001 this is the ninth election for leader of the Labour Party that I have covered since then that's what I do ladies and gentleman that's my job at The Jerusalem Post is that every year and a half to I go and I cover an election for leader of the Labour Party which just shows how messed up the party that is form the state has become but we haven't seen the last of them even though people in Israel have understandably moved to the right over time I don't believe those who have eulogized the Labor Party and said that it's dead the right kind of leadership can resuscitate the whether Amir Peretz it's extremely or Stav Shaffir is that right kind of leadership remains to be seen one credit for Stav she knows how to speak English beautifully explaining the opinion of the Israeli Zionist progressive left in America and England around the world extremely well explaining why the effort to boycott divestment sanction Israel is illegitimate and very very unprecedented her a couple weeks ago on whether that eloquence that she has in English translates into being strong enough a leader to be able to pose any political challenge here in Israel remains to be seen and looking quite unlikely right now but anything can happen in Israeli politics that leaves us with the election for leader of merits which is also very interesting tomorrow zan Berg was the leader of the party in the April election she won only four seats she might not have even crossed the electoral threshold if it weren't for the votes of some 200-thousand Arabs who were upset with their own Arab parties and decided to empower asami frej who is number four on the merits list and an Arab from northern Israel she's being challenged by a guy named meat son Horowitz who was a former journalist who ran for mayor of Tel Aviv and was briefly a Knesset member for merits he is gay and he is charismatic and he is someone who wants to focus more in matters of religion and state and less on the israeli-palestinian conflict that's right you could easily have a leader of merits already on Thursday the leader of the most left-wing Zionist party who admits the Palestinian issue isn't something that he cares about a lot if that's true of the most left-wing Zionist party then that issue will clearly not be a big issue ahead of the election on September 17th if Stav does not win the leadership of the Labour Party and if Tamar's and burgers defeated by Nissan Horowitz and if Tzipi Livni does not make a political comeback which is not looking very likely right now and if a yell at shaked is not given the top slot any party that runs in the September 17th election for the first time in a long time there won't be no party in Israel led by a woman let's just put a guess on it Stav won't win Tamar's an brakes pretty 50/50 right now I think a yell at will end up leading a party right now and there is a whatsapp group called Sierra shaked meaning the forces of a yellow chick head where she's been giving them hints on things going on behind the scenes um we don't know yet what they are maybe by next Tuesday show there will be and maybe she will be the only woman running at the head of a list in the September 17th election so that's all the excitement taking place behind the scenes as we speak inside Israel today thank you for being with us and we'll be back here next week with more excitement from Israeli politics from here in Jersey and bye-bye you're listening to the Land of Israel network at the Land of Israel comm broadcasting the truth and beauty of Israel to the