For former GOC Northern Command and one-time Deputy IDF Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yair Golan, the question is not whether he will join politics, but when.
Golan, who is reportedly thinking about going into politics, sees four issues that Israel must address: the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; the way the IDF is handling the Hamas threat; the bureaucracy's betrayal of Israel's citizens; and what is taking place in the historical-national sphere.
"There was a period of hope for peace in Israel. We all know that's no longer realistic," Golan tells Israel Hayom. "The peace narrative has been replaced by Netanyahu's narrative of fear. Now we need to transition to a narrative of self-assurance and pride."
Golan thinks the political entanglements that led to a decision to hold a new election were unnecessary.
"If things were normal [here], the two big parties would have set up a coalition that nothing could bring down. 70 MKs, a solid majority that would also represent the people of Israel. The ideological differences between the Likud and Blue and White are slim to none. In a functioning world, a centrist coalition would have been formed, neither Right nor Left, which would do things that most of the Israeli people want. Without the diversions from the haredim or the extreme Right.
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"All that needed to happen was for the elected prime minister, still Benjamin Netanyahu, to say, 'People, if I'm indicted, I promise to resign. Then we would have had a great coalition," he says.
Golan says that "politics has never been nice" and that "Bibi didn't invent dirty tricks."
Still, he says, Netanyahu's political tactics are his primary complaint about the prime minister.
"He is establishing a politics of identity, which radicalizes itself. This is a type of politics that kills any ability to carry on a dialogue. This is a type of politics that deals less with content and more with images and labels. Netanyahu is to a large extent responsible for these past politics."
Golan also touches on the trial of former IDF soldier Elor Azaria, who was convicted of manslaughter for shooting an immobilized Palestinian terrorist in an incident in Hebron that sparked controversy not only in Israel but worldwide.
"It was a fair trial. By the way, he got the punishment he was expected to receive because ultimately, there's no such charge as 'intent to commit murder,'" Golan says.
"We are debating about how to move forward to a place that is good for the country. I need to know that the intentions are pure. Then I can ask things of a soldier who comes from a left-wing or right-wing or religious background. Here, there are no 'backgrounds.' Here, we represent the government. But the moment the army becomes 'left-wing and defeatist,' the courts become 'destroyers of Israel' and the chief justice of the Supreme Court is 'not a Zionist' – the day isn't far off when a soldier will say he cannot serve here," Golan warns.
When asked if at an earlier stage of his military career he ever imagined that the Palestinians in Gaza would be capable of firing rockets at most of Israel, Golan replied: "I think that the [2005] disengagement from Gaza was very bad in the way we implemented it. But do I miss accompanying convoys carrying bombs to Gush Katif? Does anyone miss chasing rock-throwers at al-Shati [refugee camp]? In Jabaliya? In the first five years of the Second Intifada, 147 Israelis were killed in Gaza. Since 2005, 121 Israelis have been killed there, including all the soldiers who died in all military operations."
On the question of why Israel doesn't invade Gaza, Golan says, "They're afraid to fight. Afraid of casualties. It wouldn't mean 500 dead. We give the enemy too much credit. Fighting in Gaza doesn't come without a cost – fighting in an urban setting is fighting on the ground," he explains.
And what would follow a ground incursion?
"The equation is imaginary. There is a public aspect – the assumption is that if we go into Gaza, we'll be bogged down there for years, is wrong."
