Benny Gantz’s sorry (not) sorry plea for an anti-Bibi coalition

Welcome to the fifth episode of The Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing: Your audio update on what’s happening in Israel, the Middle East, and the Jewish world. Today’s panel includes Times of Israel founding editor David Horovitz and Tal Schneider, the new political correspondent for both The Times of Israel and its sister Hebrew-language site Zman Yisrael, along with host Amanda Borschel-Dan. Monday night, Alternative Prime Minister Benny Gantz held a much-hyped press conference in which he proclaimed he was sorry for joining the current government coalition. Gantz further proclaimed a state of emergency and pressed the center, right, and left, to create an alliance to topple Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- which Gantz had promised to do in the previous three elections. Fool me three times, shame on whom? Further political mergers and acquisitions are in the air as the religious far-right parties are discussing a joint list. But, as Schneider and Horovitz point out, voters should be aware of just how extremist some of these partners could be. Earlier this week, Schneider elucidated a little-known security force in Israel, the Knesset Guard. They're not part of the IDF or the police: Just who are they? And finally, Horovitz speaks to the increasingly uncovered anti-Semitic sentiment found among the supporters of US President Donald Trump who stormed Capitol Hill last week. Discussed articles include: Israel and the shameful, dangerous final days of Donald Trump Gantz unity plea falls flat, but his deep coffers are nothing to sneeze at Responsible parties? Fragmenting political field is ripe for mergers Watching DC strife, armed Knesset Guards say they’ve long readied for unrest Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on iTunes, Spotify, PlayerFM, Google Play or wherever you get your podcasts. Image: Alternate Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Benny Gantz visits at the Jerusalem Municipality on November 10, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.