Following the attempted assassination on Saturday of presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania, the Israeli Cabinet devoted its weekly meeting on Sunday morning to incitement.
During the ministerial gathering, Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs presented a compilation of video clips featuring prominent Israelis threatening not only Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his family, but all “Bibistim” (the derogatory term for the premier’s supporters), with various forms of violence and even death.
The two-hour discussion that ensued focused on the fact that calls to kill members of the coalition have been voiced repeatedly with impunity. Netanyahu referred to the “silence of senior figures [from whom] we have not heard condemnations.”
Several hours later, National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz issued a lengthy tweet to answer and counter the claim. He began by quoting assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin “of blessed memory,” who said that “violence is the erosion of the foundation of democracy. It must be condemned, denounced and isolated. This is not the way of the State of Israel.”
Gantz went on, “As true as this statement was then, it is equally true today. In these times, when we have returned to the discourse of Oct. 6 on steroids, it must be clearly stated: There is no place for hatred and violence in a democratic state, in any form or manner, from any side of the political spectrum.”
Violence, he continued, “is a danger to any democratic society, and we must not be indifferent to it, regardless of the direction, no matter how significant the disagreements. We must not engage in physical or verbal violence against protesters, politicians or the prime minister.”
Trying to preempt criticism from both supporters and detractors, he wrote, “I know what the reactions to this post will be. Some will say, ‘They, not we, are running the poison machine.’ Others will say, ‘In our camp, it has never happened and never will.’ Some will say, ‘You’re serving Netanyahu’ and others will say, ‘You’re incapable of condemning the Kaplanists [anti-government demonstrators on Tel Aviv’s Kaplan Street].’”
He then offered the following advice: “It’s time to wake up and for each person to first look at himself, his camp, his environment. This applies to the prime minister, as well, who must act to stop the incitement spread online on his behalf.”
Yes, he insisted, “We must unite in the call of all party leaders against any form of incitement or violence. The event in the United States, regardless of the circumstances, should also raise red flags for us. We simply need to condemn and denounce violence and violent people and manage our disagreements firmly, but without incitement and crossing red lines. From any side, and under any circumstances.”
Apparently, Gantz thought it was relatively safe to condemn all violence, including incitement directed at Netanyahu—especially since he made sure to stress that it emanates equally from the prime minister’s camp. After all, what reasonable Israeli couldn’t be on board with that?
Furthermore, the demand that the right engage in collective soul-searching after Rabin’s murder—and breast-beating on the part of many Israelis whose vociferous opposition to the Oslo Accords made them feel guilty for the climate that led to his death—was the going zeitgeist in the country for years.
So Gantz’s admonition wasn’t novel. Other than in its general nature, that is, which means that it was also aimed at the left.
Oops. Talk about crossing a red line.
To get an idea of the outrage that Gant’s feeble stab at societal unity (by not letting Bibi off the hook) elicited, a review of some choice comments on his post is in order.
“Gantz is a tireless poll tracker, listening to his advisers who think that with these empty words he’ll be able to win a few more votes from the soft right,” argued one disgruntled follower. “And he doesn’t understand that he’s actually a Netanyahu collaborator helping to normalize the paranoid dictator.”
Another grunted, “What a repulsive potted plant. There is no symmetry, and we don’t have the privilege of impotent leadership. Stay home, enjoy your budgetary pension and leave us in peace, you cheap populist.”
Gantz, spewed another, “is a manufactured oppositionist whose role is to strengthen the regime. He’s essentially an organic part of the fascist-theocratic coup and fulfills his role as someone who regulates and limits resistance.”
Someone else chimed in, “Gantz is a complete zero, unworthy of leading anything. Since his entry into politics, Israel’s situation has only worsened in every parameter.”
Among the numerous insults was this: “He’s a lapdog of the tyrant [Netanyahu], just like [President Isaac] Herzog.”
“So true!” replied one venomous X user. “From Gantz, you can always hear only supposedly statesmanlike’ remarks that address both sides, as if they’re on a par with each other. Not a word about police violence and the Kahanist mob against protesters, and he will never say a word about the constant abuse by the army and settlers in Palestinian villages in the territories. The man is a Netanyahu clone without a backbone.”
The above is only a sampling of the more than 900 comments on Gantz’s post. He should have known better than to expect sympathy from the very elites who consider it their duty to oust Netanyahu by any means.
For them, violence is legitimate if it achieves the goal of eliminating their nemesis. Gantz also wants Bibi out of the way, but he’s hoping to realize this dream at the ballot box.
He imagined that quitting the emergency unity government, and along with it the War Cabinet, would remove the “stain” of the Netanyahu-led coalition and pave his way to the premiership. Perhaps now he knows that he can forget about counting on the left to help that happen.