After a Channel 10 poll on Thursday found that if former IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. (res.) Gabi Ashkenazi were to enter politics he could potentially cause a watershed shift in Israeli politics, questions have arisen regarding where he stands politically.
Economics Committee Chairman MK Eitan Cabel (Zionist Union) on Friday told IDF Radio he isn’t rushing to welcome Ashkenazi to his leftist party, after Ashkenazi had a case on criminal charges closed against him by Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein on Wednesday.
“Who is Gabi? What does Gabi think? What are his opinions even?,” asked Cabel. “A festival of ‘where will Gabi be’ is being conducted, suddenly it’s a completely crazy enterprise.”
Thursday’s poll posed several possibilities regarding how Ashkenazi might potentially join politics. The only possibility that indicates Ashkenazi seriously influencing the political map would be one in which he joined Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid and Kulanu chair Moshe Kahlon, forming a new “centrist” party together with them.
According to the poll, a new party of this type would garner 29 mandates, while Likud would drop from its current 30 seats down to 24. The leftist Zionist Union would receive only 13 seats, in a serious setback from its current 24.
After Weinstein on Wednesday decided to drop the probe on Ashkenazi, Yesh Atid and Zionist Union both rushed to welcome the decision and call on the former IDF head to join them.
“I congratulate former IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, Ronit and the family, on the closure of the case and the weight removed from their shoulders,” wrote Zionist Union head Yitzhak Herzog on Twitter.
Lapid also wrote on Twitter, saying, “I was happy to hear about the closure of the case against former IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi. Ashkenazi has contributed greatly and strengthened the security of the state of Israel, and this is an important development today for Gabi, Ronit and the children, for the IDF and the state of Israel.”
Despite the outpouring of speculation regarding Ashkenazi’s potential entry into politics, it is estimated that the ex-IDF head will not jump into the water yet given that elections are not in the offing. He has yet to hold an interview regarding his intentions.
