The Blue and White party's platform reminds me of a field trip to the city of Safed in the sixth grade. During the trip we visited a museum, where our teacher showed us an oil painting of a woman's face and convinced us that regardless of where we stood the woman would appear to be looking at us, smiling and winking.
Blue and White's platform is trying to wink at everyone, on the Right, Left and Center. My impression is that the platform was concocted by publicists and former media members, much like the speech party chairman Benny Gantz delivered in English at the Munich Security Conference on February 17.
Upon closer examination, it looks like it was copy-pasted from previous platforms presented by Labor, Yesh Atid and Kadima. Due to its considerable length, we can't touch on every detail here. We should, however, address the core issues prepped for the party's four co-leaders, who boast their 117 years of combined military experience. I only wonder if they also included Yair Lapid's military experience at Bamahane, the IDF magazine, as he is slated to be prime minister on rotation if they win – not to mention the zero total years of political and parliamentary experience for the person who would serve first in that rotation, Gantz.
I read the platform and was happy to learn that the dream put forth by its authors had already been achieved by the Likud 10 years ago. They promise a strong Israel – indeed, Israel is a military power. They promise that Israel will prosper economically – indeed, Israel has one of the stronger economies in the world. They promise leadership and innovation in the foreign policy sphere, and indeed, Israel is spearheading global diplomatic initiatives, as leaders worldwide seek to bolster relations with Israel. Case in point is the number of times the words "we will preserve" appear in the platform. If the main goal is to preserve, why would Israeli citizens choose a knock-off of the dream? It would be best to allow the right-wing leadership that has already achieved this success to continue doing so. We cannot gamble on the future of the Jewish national home.
Despite the long, tedious platform, the authors took pains to camouflage the party's leftist aspirations. It's hard to believe just how contemptible the Left's ideas have become, that they feel the need to conceal them so cleverly. The Blue and White list says in its platform that it will "assert the Jewish majority." This is a whitewashed term that means the creation of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria. After all, they aren't saying they can bring 2 million Jews from the United States to Israel. The platform discusses "strengthening the settlement blocs," a phrase from the Labor and Kadima school of policy, which means the tens of thousands of Jews currently living outside the large settlement blocs will need to leave their homes. They vow that any mass-scale withdrawal of this sort would be decided via national referendum. Without question, Blue and White's partners from the Arab sector can help them carry out their dream of expulsion.
And yet we still haven't discussed the meaning of a Jewish state, Histadrut labor federation leader Avi Nissankoren's economy, the need to fix Lapid's mistakes as finance minister, separating the legislative and judiciary branches – and the contribution of Gantz and Ya'alon to what the platform dubs "the submission of Hamas." The cat is out of the bag, and the Left is winking in every direction.
