How Israel's political parties headhunt generals
Labor head Avi Gabbay and Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid both know that to win the premiership they must add a prominent ex-general to their Knesset lists.
Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid and former Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon have gotten into the routine of holding regular meetings between just the two of them, sometimes as frequently as twice a month.
Lapid usually shows up at Ya'alon's office in the Ramat HaHayal neighborhood of northern Tel Aviv and meets with him behind closed doors. Ya'alon's secretaries already know how Lapid drinks his coffee, and the mood is like a meeting of old pals, trying to find the ideal formula that would allow them to cooperate as soon as a new election is announced.
Ya'alon has been steering an independent political course ever since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deposed him as defense minister in May 2016. He immediately became the subject of intense courting by Lapid, whose greatest political weakness is his lack of experience in security affairs. In Israel, election campaigns are ultimately determined by security issues, even if momentous economic, social or civil issues are also hanging in the balance.
Ya'alon is a former right-wing chief of staff and defense minister who served in key security positions for the past three decades. In other words, he is a hot commodity when it comes to security affairs. Just one day after he left the Defense Ministry, Lapid was ready to close a deal with him, which would have had them running together in the next election. The problem was that Ya'alon is ambitious. He sees himself running at the head of a list, and that is the one thing that the Yesh Atid chairman is unwilling to concede him.
