Gantz: I Don’t Keep Shabbos, But It’s ‘The Best Thing’ for Jews

In the hope of getting enough votes to get it more seats than the Likud, Blue and White has embarked on a campaign to convince Religious Zionist voters to choose it in the elections later this month. Billboards proclaiming the party’s loyalty to the Land of Israel have appeared in several cities, and in an interview Motzoei Shabbos party head Benny Gantz said that he would not do interviews on Shabbos.

While the campaign is unlikely to convince chareidi voters – or even many from the Religious Zionist camp – Gantz, along with Blue and White, is trying to make its case. “Shabbos is the best thing that has ever happened to the Jewish people,” Gantz told Channel 13 in the interview broadcast Motzoei Shabbos. “I recommend that we all remember this and respect this, each in their own way.”

On its billboards, which have been seen in Yerushalayim and on Road 60 in the Binyamin region, a message says in bold print that “there will not be another disengagement.” Another billboard expounds on Gantz’s incorruptibility. Blue and White MK Yoaz Hendel said that the two messages were connected, indicating that when Gantz makes a promise, regarding the disengagement or anything else, he means it.

In the last election, 30,000 voters in Yehudah and Shomron chose Blue and White, and the party hopes to double that in this election, said Hendel. “Members of the Religious Zionist community are uncomfortable with the corruption and the encouragement of division in Israeli society. We see ourselves as a party that represents all Israelis. Religious Zionists who don’t see themselves as part of the ‘National Chareidi’ camp or ‘Kahanists’ have a place with us,” he added.