The 19th Knesset and the pact between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and former Finance Minister Yair Lapid did not work, Res. Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant, #2 on the Kulanu party list, charged Sunday.
Galant, speaking on the “Orly and Guy” radio program, stated that he would “not dare to ask the public to trust Lapid as finance minister again” and blasted Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon as well over the “unbearable reality” of Israel’s national security.
“Today the reality is unbearable, and it’s not a decree from heaven,” Galant said. “When you look at the national strength of the State of Israel, one can see how many of these [important] aspects have been neglected.”
Galant particularly targeted Ya’alon over his handling of the summer war in Gaza.
“During Operation Protective Edge, we destroyed thirty tunnels under kindergartens and schools,” he fired. “The Defense Minister is all talk and no action.”
“We’re talking about 50 days of rockets on Tel Aviv and the Negev,” he continued. “I, as commander of the Southern Command during Operation Cast Lead, took half the time [to battle Hamas – ed.] without the Iron Dome. Today it would take even less time.”
“The next campaign should be much shorter with higher-quality results,” he added. “Hamas is not the ‘Red Army’ as you were told. We can defeat Hamas and I know how to do it.”
Galant is also outraged over the cease-fire agreement.
“I do not accept that we sit on an equal footing with Hamas, [and communicate with them] through Egyptian and American mediation,” he opined. “I will not allow the Israeli government to allow thirty more tunnels to be built under Israeli schools and kindergartens. I do not accept the political leaders directing the military establishment to settle with a draw, or that the Minister of Defense is willing to live with a draw. I do not accept it.”
Galant maintained that there are more than “two options” in wars with Hamas and that to claim such is to deceive the public.
In general, he claimed, Netanyahu’s promises are not to be trusted – referring to claims that Labor leader Yitzhak Herzog and Lapid will not sit in a Likud-run government.
“Let’s play the record of Netanyahu-Lapid promises and see what turns out,” he said.