Ex-Netanyahu Aide Calls for National Camp to Reach Out to Opponents
Translated & summarized from Makor Rishon by baba
Former Netanyahu confidant Shlomo Filber is calling on the national camp to offer genuine partnership to opposing Zionist parties to prevent an "red-green coalition." His warnings come as Gadi Eisenkot is expected to receive the mandate to form a government. Filber cautions against emotional reactions and emphasizes the need for strategic calculation to avoid a coalition he believes would promote anti-Zionist values and dismantle Israel from within.
The story in 5 lines · by baba
- Shlomo Filber urges the national camp to partner with Zionist parties to avoid an "red-green coalition."
- Filber warns that failing to offer partnership could lead to a coalition promoting anti-Zionist values.
- His remarks are in the epilogue of his upcoming book, "It's Not Bibi: The Rise of the National Camp."
- Filber previously served as Director-General of the Ministry of Communications and was a state witness.
- The comments coincide with Gadi Eisenkot's expected mandate to form a government.
Shlomo Filber, a former close confidant of Benjamin Netanyahu and a noted strategist and pollster, is urging the Prime Minister and the national camp to extend a hand to Zionist parties on the other side, warning of an "red-green coalition" if they do not. Filber's remarks appear in the epilogue of his upcoming book, "It's Not Bibi: The Rise of the National Camp." Filber previously served as Director-General of the Ministry of Communications before becoming a state witness in Case 4000.
His comments come as the President is expected to task Gadi Eisenkot with forming a government, following recommendations from 67 Knesset members, including representatives from Ra'am and the Joint List. Despite the Likud's success in becoming the largest party and the potential difficulties for Eisenkot's bloc in forming a coalition, Filber describes the current moment as "unprecedentedly dangerous and important." He cautions national leaders and voters against replacing strategic calculation with feelings of victory and political revenge.
Filber argues that an emotional, tit-for-tat response to the "Anyone but Bibi" campaign, such as boycotting opponents or demanding they join the government only after current coalition partners secure their demands, is dangerous. He stresses that in the new political era emerging from the recent elections, "change camp" voters will not accept being a subordinate minority in a national coalition. Filber asserts that the leadership of the national camp, which he believes won the past decade's battle, must proactively offer genuine partnership in nation-building to the other side.
Failure to create a new, Zionist, and national bloc, Filber warns, could lead to a "red-green coalition." Such a coalition, he fears, would elevate progressive values and anti-Zionist Palestinian nationalism, which he believes would work to dismantle Israel from within, similar to their alleged impact on European countries. The alternative, in his view, is a framework and guiding principles that allow national and Zionist voters to cooperate in building the country without boycotts.
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