Benny Gantz, Political Warrior

Benny Gantz is a sucker. Benny Gantz is a genius. Benny Gantz is a warrior. Benny Gantz is a rudderless leader.

All of these descriptors have been applied to Gantz, the Knesset speaker and future prime minister, over the past year as he ran for public office. In the immediate aftermath of his deal with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, which will see him take over the top spot in the Israeli government for 18 months, and promises his party the key ministerial posts of foreign affairs and justice, he was additionally called a traitor to his cause by his former allies and a unifier like no other Israeli leader of the past by his partners.

But what’s the truth? To find out, we conducted a handful of interviews with top military and political leaders who know Gantz best. How did he perform on the battlefield as a soldier? As army chief of staff, was he a skilled tactician? What is likely to be his management style once he becomes prime minister? Does he really have a chance to overshadow Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister and master politician?

As we researched this article, we were repeatedly struck by the contrast between Gantz’s impressive performance on the battlefield and his indecisiveness at the conference table. As a solider and field commander, Gantz is remembered as a courageous soldier who took part in innumerable actions in enemy territory. But when it came to the air-conditioned conference room, to the clamorous debates in which a commander needs to thump the table with his fist, quiet down the dissenting voices and decide on the path forward, sources said that Gantz was always more than willing to let others make the decisions. One example cited by sources: In 2014, when Gantz was chief of staff and the Israeli army was engaged in a showdown with Hamas that would become known as Operation Protective Edge, Gantz went along with Netanyahu in concealing information that Hamas had dug dozens of tunnels along the Gaza border. That decision was later harshly criticized by cabinet members, especially Naftali Bennett, who claimed that early destruction of the tunnels could have saved soldiers’ lives in the ensuing war. Another example: Gantz’s nickname in the army was “Benny-chuta” (benichuta, Hebrew for “tranquilly”), and some of his associates say that this quality has been double-edged.