Gantz and coronavirus: Impactful or irrelevant? - Analysis

Gantz has to deal with criticism from Lapid and opposition MKs and with a lack of cooperation from Netanyahu, which only gives the opposition more ammunition.

By GIL HOFFMAN
Alternate Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Benny Gantz at the weekly cabinet meeting, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem on June 28, 2020. (photo credit: OLIVIER FITOUSSI/FLASH90)
Alternate Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Benny Gantz at the weekly cabinet meeting, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem on June 28, 2020.
(photo credit: OLIVIER FITOUSSI/FLASH90)
When Benny Gantz entered politics after a career in the IDF, he said he knew he would be attacked on all sides.
Since then, he has been the target of enemies, former friends and future former friends.
He faces criticism from opposition MKs who were enemies from the start and from former allies like opposition leader Yair Lapid, as well as obvious disdain from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who fits the category of a “future former friend.”
The coronavirus is a key case in point. Gantz has to deal with criticism from Lapid and opposition MKs and with a lack of cooperation from Netanyahu, which only gives the opposition more ammunition.
Lapid has pointed out many times that after Gantz said he had to join the government to help fight the coronavirus, Blue and White did not request any portfolio related to the effort. After Gantz’s associates said the party would pursue the Health Ministry, he did not make too much of an effort to get it.
Blue and White also does not control any committee dealing with the virus, and no MK from the party was initially on the special Knesset committee on fighting the virus.
“Gantz just isn’t relevant,” Lapid said in a speech two weeks ago. “Gabi Ashkenazi and Gantz aren’t involved in any position of influence for managing the coronavirus crisis.”
But why is Gantz’s Defense Ministry not in a position of influence for managing the crisis? The answer is that like his predecessor in the post, Naftali Bennett, Gantz demanded that Netanyahu shift responsibilities for executing the government’s fight against the virus to his ministry from the Health Ministry, and Netanyahu said no.
“We have to agree on a more efficient management system for the decision-making process and its execution,” Gantz said last week. “The regulations should be decided on by the Health Ministry, and the execution should be performed by the Defense Ministry and Home Front Command, which has the best tools to handle the situation – from hotels to direct communications with every authority.”
New Health Ministry director-general Hezi Levy endorsed Gantz’s request, but to no avail.
So Gantz has taken other steps that are within his authority. He signed an order extending the emergency recruitment of up to 250 reservists, most of them from Home Front Command, to assist the effort to trace where Israelis got COVID-19.
Gantz instructed his ministry to prepare to open additional coronavirus hotels for those who contract the virus and cannot quarantine at home. One additional hotel was opened at the Hermon Field School in Kibbutz Snir in the North. The command already operates six others across the country.
The IDF continues to run 11 coronavirus facilities, and two others are expected to open due to the continued rise in numbers. In addition, paramedics have been assigned to the Health Ministry to help carry out tests as well as man call centers, and another 350 troops will help the Health Ministry carry out epidemiological investigations.
Currently, there are some 1,463 patients at the various coronavirus facilities operated by the Defense Ministry and the IDF, and another 2,000 patients are expected to be sent to them in the coming days.
The Defense Ministry allocated two payments to lone soldiers of NIS 4,000 each. At Monday’s meeting of the coronavirus cabinet, Gantz demanded compensation for industries in the economy that have been hit the hardest, and Netanyahu promised a plan within 48 hours.
All decisions on the coronavirus are made in conjunction with Gantz ahead of meetings of the cabinet and of the ministerial committee on the virus, which was formed at the request of Blue and White.
Gantz also instructed Blue and White ministers to take steps, and they have tangible results:
The Science Ministry of Izhar Shay allocated NIS 6.4 million to the MIGAL Galilee Research Institute, which is working on a vaccine. The Social Equality Ministry of Meirav Cohen formed a hotline to help the elderly, which the first wave of the virus proved was necessary.
The Tourism Ministry of Asaf Zamir allocated grants to hotels and to the tourism-dependent cities of Eilat and Tiberias. The Aliyah and Integration Ministry of Pnina Tamano-Shata allocated NIS 500 grants for families who made aliyah in the past year who are not getting payments from the Health Ministry.
There are also benefits from the Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services Ministry of Itzik Shmuli, who is technically in the Labor Party but is part of the Blue and White faction and consulted with Gantz on the moves.
All those steps did not make big headlines, but they prove that Gantz and other Blue and White ministers are making an effort.
Will Gantz get credit, or will he continue to be seen as ineffective? That could depend on his public relations.
Gantz just replaced Blue and White’s team of spokesmen, which will try to win a PR victory. Just like in the army, the picture of victory is often what ends up being remembered after a battle.