The Israeli political system long waited to hear from former military Chief of Staff Benny Gantz. This brand-new Israeli politician who just founded the Israel Resilience Party has appeared in the polls as the greatest threat to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s long-standing domination of the government. And yet, despite all that, Gantz was politically silent. It was only last week that he made a rare public statement, after Druze activists appeared outside his home to protest the discriminatory Nationality Law. He promised them that he would work to amend it.

Then, on Jan. 20, the heads of his campaign released four promotional video clips. His voice came across as so surprisingly powerful (in an aggressive manner) that many of those who thought he was a different kind of politician or that he marked the “dawn of a new age” walked away feeling disappointed.

The first video showed the 2012 killing of Ahmed Jabari, the head of the military wing of Hamas, in an airstrike. Jabari was responsible for the abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. After Jabari's car goes up in flames in the video, a slogan appears onscreen, saying, “Only the strong will win.”

The second video opens with a body count. The numbers flash quickly over footage from funerals and the sound of cries in Arabic: 1, 2 … 11 … 537.… They stop at 1,364, and the words “1,364 terrorists killed” appear on screen in big, bold letters, followed by “3.5 years of quiet.”