Yair Golan’s Radical Gambit: The Left’s New Problem with Its Own Tactics

Yair Golan, the centrist politician and former IDF general, has attempted to paint National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir as an extremist in a bid to delegitimise the government. However, his strategy appears to have backfired, with critics arguing that Golan himself is operating from a position further to the left than the coalition partner he is attacking.

Golan’s campaign against Ben Gvir, who leads the far-right Otzlo Yehudit party, has focused on characterising the minister as beyond the pale of acceptable Israeli politics. The attempt reflects broader efforts by centrist and left-wing figures to isolate right-wing members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government.

Yet observers have noted an irony in Golan’s approach: in his efforts to outflank Ben Gvir from the right on security grounds, Golan has instead shifted his own political positioning further leftward, undermining his own centrist positioning. This tactical miscalculation raises questions about whether such frontal attacks on coalition members strengthen or weaken opposition to the current government.

Golan’s political project appears caught between two strategies—attempting to appeal to centrist voters concerned about Ben Gvir’s influence while simultaneously adopting more left-wing rhetoric. The conflicting approaches suggest internal tensions about how best to challenge the current government’s direction.

Source: Ynet — Original article in Hebrew.