MK reveals that the statement on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day led to him not being appointed chief of staff • "It was a silence campaign, spread lies about me" • Full interview: Tomorrow in "Israel this week"
"Land Army loses self-confidence"
Photo:
Joshua Joseph
Five years after the "famous process speech" he gave on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, MK Yair Golan reveals: "Because of this speech, I was not appointed chief of staff. Avigdor Lieberman told me this explicitly."
In an interview to be published tomorrow in "Israel Hashavua", Golan says that he did not believe that the speech would make so much noise.
"Call it innocence, but I did not understand at all that I was going to an event like this. Who even knew what a beacon institute was? I spoke there from the blood of my heart, because I saw the crazy craze that went on here after the Elor Azaria event, with the murky wave of nationalism that is not us. I knew things would resonate like this, I would put it another way. "
Golan's remarks in 2016 // Photo: Assaf Shilo / Israel Sun.
Do you have an appreciation for why things made such a noise?
"Because the politicians said to themselves, 'He sees us.' He sees our shame. That's why they came out on me so powerfully. The right - wing approach today is to enter the mother of all opposition, including campaigns of defamation and lies. Spread the word about me disregarding soldiers' lives, I said That IDF soldiers are Nazis.
One hundred bereaved families signed a demand not to appoint me chief of staff. "It was a silence campaign."
And from the distance of time, do we really go through such processes?
"We are going through really dangerous processes. We are not unusual. Look at what is happening to democracies in the world. You see how everywhere democracy is cut to pieces. So it is not that we are becoming Nazis, but there are processes of emerging nationalism and the destruction of democracy."
In an interview, Golan harshly criticizes the IDF's performance in recent systems in Lebanon and Gaza. "The ground army is incompetent, and not because of what Brick says about the IDFs. How do I know that? Because if someone says over and over again that he intends to maneuver, and even "Once he does not maneuver, it is a sign that something is wrong with him. The ground army has lost its self-confidence."
Golan says that despite the unflattering polls, Meretz must not retire.
"I believe we will pass, and I am working very hard to make it happen. But the left is in trouble. Together with Labor, the left base in Israel is 12-11 seats on a good day. It is not much, but it is a base to start a journey with."
He clarifies that he will not disqualify any future partner in the government "except on the basis of corruption, or someone like Ben Gvir who is an Israeli fascist. But apart from them I am willing to sit with everyone - with the ultra-Orthodox, with the Arabs, with Bennett, with Saar. Take care and what not, and get going. "
