Retired Brig. Gen. Ofer Winter is not planning to join any existing political party and, if he runs in the next election, will form his own party, according to a Monday report by Moti Castel on News 14. Winter said he believes he is the only figure in the field capable of shifting large numbers of voters from the center-left bloc to the right.
The report also included recordings from a home gathering Winter held on Sunday, in which he launched a sharp attack on former IDF chief of staff and Yashar party leader Gadi Eizenkot. Winter claimed Eizenkot personally tried to block his advancement in the IDF. “Gadi Eizenkot did everything he could so that I would finish my service in the IDF,” Winter was heard saying.
Winter said the praise surrounding Eizenkot reflected “the concept” he opposes, describing it as a mindset of “restraint” and “containment,” and argued that the same approach led to policies of giving militants “a little more money” in the hope they would become Zionists. He also pointed to people associated with Eizenkot, naming Yair Golan, Aharon Haliva and Herzi Halevi, and said their circle showed the worldview behind Eizenkot’s leadership.
Winter also criticized ultra-Orthodox leaders, Knesset members Yitzhak Goldknopf and Moshe Gafni, over the enlistment law debate. While stressing that he strongly supports the world of Torah and its importance for Israel, he said their blanket claims were false, arguing that not everyone can be a Torah scholar and that the current rhetoric is harming ultra-Orthodox society and Torah learners first. “This is my opinion, and I think it is possible and necessary to change it, and it must change,” he said.
