Grieving Father Considers Voting Likud Under Specific Conditions

Hagai Loober, who lost his son Yonatan in combat in the Gaza Strip, has expressed a surprising political stance that has stirred the Israeli political system. In a Facebook post, Loober stated that despite his sharp criticism of the country's leadership, he might vote for the Likud party in the upcoming elections, provided a specific condition is met.

Loober, who has never voted Likud and did not plan to, explained that he was prompted to reconsider after seeing a report from Otzma Yehudit alleging that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was 'scheming' to form a government with Benny Gantz's party after the elections. Loober expressed joy at this prospect, hoping it was true because he believes Israel needs to 'break the blocs' of political division.

He criticized the current political discourse, where parties are entrenched in their camps, preparing for 'war,' and aiming for 'governments of subjugation.' Loober argued that parties forget they fought together in the trenches, ignore the difficulty of narrow governments making decisions, and deny the danger of division and factional conflict.

Loober set a clear condition for his potential vote for the ruling party: if Netanyahu and Likud clearly state before the elections that they will work to form a broad coalition government with Gantz's party, that would be enough for him to vote Likud. He concluded by acknowledging his criticisms of Likud, including their responsibility for the 'terrible disaster,' failure to draft Haredi and draft-dodgers into the army, and contribution to division. However, he contrasted his view with that of Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, stating that what Ben-Gvir sees as a 'warning,' Loober sees as hope, adding, 'I wish.'