Gantz, Lapid, Labor start campaigns with humor

The video ended with Gantz poking fun of his silence since entering politics, saying “I think I said too much.”

By GIL HOFFMAN
Updated: JANUARY 18, 2019 02:37
Labor leader Avi Gabbay (left), Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid and Israel Resilience leader Benny Gantz (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Labor leader Avi Gabbay (left), Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid and Israel Resilience leader Benny Gantz
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Former IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz’s Israel Resilience Party, Yesh Atid and Labor each released their first campaign videos on social media Thursday, ahead of the April 9 election.
Benny Gantz: "Israel Before Everything", January 17, 2019 (Courtesy)
Gantz unveiled his slogan “Israel before everything,” his army green party color and a video in which he said he “decided to reenlist” because he put the country first.
He called upon citizens to follow him and support his party, “because it should be different, it can be different and we will make it different.”
Gantz’s campaign staff said the slogan was intended to contrast him with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is busy with his criminal cases.
The video ended with Gantz poking fun of his silence since entering politics, saying “I think I said too much.”
Yesh Atid also started its campaign with humor, releasing a video depicting party chairman Yair Lapid shredding files labeled “Budget for the Prime Minister’s Plane,” “Political Patronage Positions Law,” “Primaries Funding Law” and “Minister-Without-Portfolio,” and then throwing the bag full of shreds in the garbage. The ad ends with the promise “What they broke, we will fix.”
Labor released parody videos mocking both Gantz and Lapid’s ads. Gantz is depicted speaking with Netanyahu’s voice professing his innocence in his criminal probes, with a warning that if he does not commit to not joining a Netanyahu-led government, he is the same as Netanyahu.
The ad making fun of Lapid shows him throwing the shreds in the garbage, with a warning that if he does not commit to not joining Netanyahu’s government, he is “throwing our votes in the trash.”
Both videos ended with a promise that Labor will not join a Netanyahu-led government.
Lapid has said repeatedly that he would not join a government led by Netanyahu if he is indicted on corruption charges pending a hearing – a step that is expected next month.
Hatnua head Tzipi Livni also made that commitment on Thursday, but Gantz has not addressed the question.
Likud later put out its own video mocking Lapid, depicting him shredding a picture of him disrespecting a woman and a file of articles he wrote when he did his military service at the IDF magazine Bamahane.