In times of war, the country calls for generals, and so Israel’s left-wing Labor Party has now brought an army grandee to the top. Jair Golan was elected with 95 percent of the vote as the new chairman of the venerable “Avoda”. Politically, the 62-year-old is called upon on several fronts, sometimes even as a lone fighter. Golan is one of the last in the political landscape who still talks about peace with the Palestinians – and about a two-state solution. He does this against the backdrop of his concentrated war experience – and a heroic deed that he performed on October 7th.
On what was probably the darkest day in Israeli history, when the state and the army failed completely, Jair Golan showed courage and leadership. At eight in the morning he heard on the radio about the Hamas attack on the Nova music festival on the border with the Gaza Strip. He knew the area, he knew what it meant, and he got into his car alone and drove off towards the massacre. He took the army boots from one of his five sons, and on the way he got a weapon from the Home Front Command. He saved several festival-goers in this way, and he brought them out of the combat zone in his commute.
Also known for unprotected open statements
In the days of desperate gloom, this story was a guiding light for many Israelis, and Golan certainly benefited from it in his election as head of the Labor Party. But he himself downplays his involvement. Compared to other things he has done in his life, it was relatively harmless.
You can believe him after a total of 38 years of military service. He joined the paratroopers at the age of 18 and rose almost inexorably to become Vice Chief of General Staff between 2014 and 2017. He himself attributes the fact that he did not become the army’s top commander after that to one of those unguarded, open statements for which he is also known.
In a speech on Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2016, he, who himself comes from a family of survivors, drew a comparison between the mood in Germany in the 1930s and that in Israel today. There was great excitement, especially among those he was referring to: the right and right-wing extremists. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the comparison “outrageous and unacceptable.”
The Labour Party is now badly torn apart
After leaving the army in 2019, Golan quickly switched to politics. In the five years since then, he has now joined the third party. First, he founded the new “Israeli Democratic Party” with ex-general and ex-prime minister Ehud Barak. Then he switched to the left-wing Meretz party, where he lost the election for chairman in 2022. Things have now worked out with the Labor Party – and there he is something like the last hope.
The party of the country’s founder, David Ben-Gurion, which later produced greats such as Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, is now in a very tattered state. It only has four of a total of 120 seats in parliament. In all polls, it has long remained below the 3.25 percent hurdle set for entry into the Knesset.
Jair Golan now wants to return to his former strength. But he knows how far the road is – and that this time he cannot go it alone. He is calling for a union of those forces that he calls the “liberal-democratic camp”. Meretz should join in, and the protest movement against last year’s judicial reform should also find a political home with him.
The most important goal: new elections and the overthrow of Netanyahu’s right-wing religious government. Golan blames them for the division of society and for the failure on October 7. “I am not angry with Hamas, I expected nothing else from them,” he said recently in an interview with JerusalemPost. “I am angry with ourselves: how could we allow a corrupt government to crush us from within? Why did we not have the courage, strength and determination to overthrow this government before the war?”
According to the AP news agency, a photo of Netanyahu surrounded by supporters in court at the start of his corruption trial stood on Jair Golan’s desk for a long time. He put it up as a reminder of what he fought for his entire life. “I served the country in uniform for so many years,” he said. “But I didn’t risk my life for these guys.”