Lapid, do the right thing
Opinion: Dear Yair, for seven years, you have worked hard and watched a corrupt and failed leader, while promising a different leadership, a clean and a professional one. But then along came Benny Gantz. So now you must show you are the bigger man, and forgo the leadership of the opposition, for you understand that a foot soldier has no chance against a general.
You have earned your title as the vocal and eloquent advocate of moral values and of equally sharing the burden of national service. You were right to say you believe in Israel and in Israelis, that you have faith in the ability of our society to regain its senses, to start over, to transform into a society of which we can be proud.
You were right to spearhead the war against the corrupt ultra-Orthodox establishment. You were right to lash out at United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni in the Knesset plenum. "I don't tell you how to spend your Shabbat, and you can't tell me how to spend mine," you told him.
You were and still are the beautiful Israeli. You worked very hard to establish a new and valued party, with branches, volunteers, and good people who believed in you so much that they entered politics just to support you.
And then along came the handsome and worthy General Benny Gantz, who so reminds us of the handsome and worthy General Yitzhak Rabin, and who is stealing away your hopes for change along with your Knesset seats.
You are right to feel you will not enter into the promised land; certainly not as the leader of the people of Israel. This is a tough moment in which the rug is pulled from under your feet and it hurts. But you don't stand a chance against him. He is a general and you are a foot soldier. Don't try to take him down, it is useless. For not only is he articulate and credible, some of his statements even sound like they came out of your mouth. It must be blow to hear them.
Yet this is neither the time to fall into despair nor a time for arrogant slogans. You don't have a chance going head-to-head against him.
Yair, this is the time to show you are bigger than that. Bend the knee and announce you are forgoing the leadership to team up with Gantz without any preconditions.
.
Yes, without any preconditions. Almost all of your wishes will come true anyway if you join forces with Gantz. Together you will provide an appropriate and a long-term response to long years of despair in this country.
Together you will draw a new political map that could bring about the big bang about which you dreamt about for so long, and push the sane forces to unite as one solid bloc.
Together you could defeat the corrupt, the inciters and dividers in Israeli society.
It won't be a left-wing bloc, nor a right-wing camp with leftists sitting in it. It will be something new that will offer a new hope, moral values and good judgment. You will have to negotiate with Gantz, but the division of authority and responsibility will be easy and straightforward. He, like you, will put Israel first. And with the two of you united, this nation has a good chance of once again holding its head high as it walks towards the light at the end of this decade-long dark tunnel.
This is the time for a new Israeli politics, that washes its hands of the rules of the jungle, of the savage predators and the tame lapdogs. Team up with Benny Gantz, unconditionally, and together you will bring great hope. Just don't forget that this land devours its inhabitants, and has already seen it all. Your predators won't hesitate to do anything in their power to achieve their goals.
