In May 2012, four people met at a café in Ra'anana – Naftali Bennett, Ayelet Shaked, Tal Gan-Zvi, and strategist Moshe Klughaft. On the agenda: decide whether to run in the elections as part of Habayit Hayehudi or establish a new political party, Hayisraelim – something right-wing that would suit Bennett, who had just ended his term as chairman of the Yesha Council.
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Ten months later, the name Naftali Bennett would come to symbolize the right-wing camp in the political and security cabinet. Ten years later, Bennett's most loyal associate, Gan-Zvi, is leaving the Prime Minister's Office, after the right-wing outlook they had set out with became more blurred.
Gan-Zvi is leaving on good terms. No badmouthing, becoming enemies, scandals, commotions, or conflicts with fellow colleagues. And yet, his departure carries a particularly significant ideological statement, for Gan-Zvi is what could be described as a "classic" right-winger.
A religious Zionist and longtime resident of a Judea and Samaria settlement, he studied at a pre-military school as a teenager and served in the elite Egoz unit. He cannot come to terms with the direction the Bennett government has taken, but like any good mechanic, he tried to bring about an impact from within, which was not easy.
Attempts for the development of new settlements – a taboo among left-wing lawmakers – were unsuccessful, and even the most minor matters, such as convening the Supreme Planning Council, which authorizes building in Judea and Samaria, took months of efforts vis-à-vis Defense Minister Benny Gantz. Gan-Zvi endured and endured.
But the possibility of the coalition relying on the Joint Arab List was the last straw. It was not easy for Gan-Zvi that the Islamist Ra'am party was part of the government either, but the truth is, there is a major difference between Ra'am's Mansour Abbas and the Joint Arab List's Ahmad Tibi.
Abbas previously visited a synagogue that was targeted in May last year during Operation Guardian of the Walls, while Tibi assaulted an Israel Police officer last week, releasing a protester on his way to commit violence in the process, and jumped at the chance to defame Israel by declaring it had killed Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in Jenin.
The clear understanding that in order to survive, the coalition will need the help of the Joint Arab List is a red line, one that Gan-Zvi cannot cross, which is why he decided to resign ahead of time.
On Sunday, he announced the end of his long-standing relationship with the prime minister, who immediately understood what prompted the move. If this is how Bennett's most loyal associate acts, things are looking dim for the prime minister.
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