BICOM

Former IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz will reportedly launch his election campaign this evening with a direct attack on Benjamin Netanyahu that will include a pledge not to serve in a future Netanyahu Government if he is indicted for corruption.

Israeli media report that Gantz will say Israel: “Is not a kingdom, and has no royal family, a king or a queen” – an allusion to Netanyahu and his wife Sara. Gantz is also likely to propose the introduction of a two term limit for future Israeli prime ministers in order to combat corruption. The speech follows a series of short videos released a week ago in which Gantz sought to position himself as tough on security but willing to strive for peace.

A spokesman for Gantz said the reported speech extracts were from an unapproved draft, but declined to say whether they would actually be in the version delivered this evening.

The latest Israeli opinion polls predict that Gantz’s Israel Resilience Party will win 14 seats in the 120 seat Knesset, despite having made no major campaign speeches or announcing any concrete policies until now. The party has not announced any of the candidates on its list, though Gantz is reported to be negotiating with former IDF Chief of Staff and Likud Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that he would not in the future evacuate or dismantle any settlements in the West Bank. He made the comments during a visit to the outpost of Netiv Ha’avot in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc south of Jerusalem, where homes were evacuated in June 2018 following an Israeli Supreme Court ruling. Palestinian land owners backed by Israeli NGO Peace Now successfully argued that some of the settlement homes were built on privately owned Palestinian land. The government subsequently promised to build a new neighbourhood for the evacuees.

Haaretz reported that Netanyahu said, if it was up to him: “There won’t be any more uprooting or halting settlements – just the opposite: The Land of Israel is ours, and will remain ours.” He added: “We’re a country that abides by the rule of law and we are subjected to High Court rulings. The home where this child was raised has been demolished but we won’t have it anymore and that’s why we are building this new neighbourhood.”

Also on Monday, Netanyahu announced he would end the mandate of the UN Temporary International Presence in Hebron’s (TIPH), a long standing international civilian observer mission in Hebron. According to an Israeli police report, TIPH members have disrupted IDF soldiers’ questioning Palestinians at local checkpoints. Last July Hadashot TV news aired a video that showed a uniformed member of TIPH slashing the car tyres of an Israeli settler. In a separate video, a TIPH staffer was shown slapping a young Jewish boy across the face. TIPH subsequently removed the personnel involved in the incidents.