Former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot explained his decision to join Benny Gantz and Gideon Sa’ar’s National Unity Party.
In an interview with Kan 11 News, which will air in full on Saturday night and of which an excerpt aired on Friday evening, Eizenkot said that Prime Minister Yair Lapid made him a more generous offer to join the Yesh Atid Party, but he ultimately chose Gantz.
“Look, I’m not an experienced politician but I have a strategic understanding of the values of the State of Israel and its national interests,” he said.
“My understanding, after conducting an analysis for several weeks, is that the only way to get out of this impossible political reality is by expanding the National Unity Party, so that it is as large as possible, allowing Benny Gantz to form a government, out of a desire to have stability for four years, and I went for the less attractive offer,” stated Eizenkot.
“I can say, to Yair Lapid’s credit, that he made a very generous and attractive offer, he was very fair, but I chose to go with the National Unity Party out of the understanding that this is the only solution I see to get us out of this situation,” he added.
Asked whether he is for or against a nuclear agreement with Iran, Eizenkot replied, “Israel is today standing between two very problematic alternatives, there is not one winning alternative. The alternative of the agreement is problematic and the alternative of no agreement is also problematic.”
“Since my experience in thwarting the Iranian nuclear program goes back to 1999, what worked in our favor is two main components: One is the action we took, the State of Israel, for years, and the second component is the deep partnership with the Americans. We have to continue to work on these two elements and certainly to avoid clashing with the US administration,” he continued.
“There needs to be readiness at the highest level, but what about the fact that, for 30 years, we have prevented a nuclear capability from Iran, is only diplomatic reasoning, military trickery, military determination and international action. Unfortunately, it has become a public event that every evening we talk about the position of every leader of this organization or the other in the news. This is very bad,” stated Eizenkot.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)