Former Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot, a senior member of the National Unity Party, was asked at a conference of the Israel Democracy Institute what message he wanted to convey when he added former minister MK Matan Kahana to the party slate.
"The main message was that if a person who is from the heart of religious Zionism, a fighter from Sayeret Matkal, an F-16 squadron commander, is disqualified based on political activity, then we might as well shut things down," Eizenkot replied.
"And that is why I saw in the addition of Matan Kahana also a significant addition of value, not because of what he did in the army but in addition, mainly, because of the courage with which he led moves in the direction of a more inclusive, more correct, more tolerant and more decent Judaism."
"That's why I saw in his addition a value and a message, I’ve gotten to know him better in the last two months, and I would like young men and women who look up to see exemplary people like Matan Kahana," said Eizenkot.
At the conference, held at Yigal Allon Center, Eizenkot said that the "two-state solution" that Prime Minister Lapid talked about in his speech at the UN General Assembly is not realistic at the current time.
"Today the reality is different than it was during Operation Defensive Shield. The IDF enters the Palestinian cities, there is no need to reconquer the Palestinian territories. The talk of canceling the Disengagement Law is delusional talk by parts of the national camp. There is a reality in which the Palestinian Authority has become very weak and Hamas and the Islamic Jihad have become very strong. The statements made by the chairman of Yesh Atid about two states for two peoples are devoid of context in the reality which has been created."
Eizenkot added, "We propose to prevent a binational state, to reduce the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to strengthen the State of Israel as an egalitarian Jewish and democratic state. The way to do it is through controlled action, first by closing the loopholes in Judea and Samaria, building a Palestinian economy in Judea and Samaria in cooperation with the Gulf countries so that Palestinians do not go out every day to work in the State of Israel, they are allowed to bring in funding to hospitals, while strengthening the security mechanisms, providing the possibility of energy independence, and all this to create a reality that one day we will have an entity that will live by our side in security, and the condition for this is the strength of the IDF. Along with the strength of the IDF, which needs to be nurtured, we need to try to reduce the conflict and create hope for both nations."