Former IDF CoGS LTG. Eisenkot joins B&W+NH and they will run under the banner the "Statist Party"*. The party vows to hold open primaries before the next election cycle.
I think it's a mistake by everyone. B&W fail to see where the wind is blowing to, ex-generals aren't that appealing as they were. Eisenkot is going to be a number 3 in a party that is unlikely to form a government or survive much past the interests of its two current leaders.
He should have either joined Lapid or start from scratch with Labour.
* I have a hard time translating the term ממלכתי to English. It's a very idiosyncratic Israeli political concept that denotes to Ben Gurion's desire to ditch the pre-48 class/partisan politics and cherish the new political institutions. It's about reverence to the state institutions and radical centrism. I think the name is a reference of Ben-Gurion's failed splinter party that ran in 1969 (Wikipedia translated it as the National List but I don't think it does justice to the meaning) and Eisenkot is a huge fan of Ben Gurion (overrated PM for me).
I think statism captures more of the essence here
I think "Institutionalist Party" would be a better translation then. Statist is frequently used in a pejorative sense by opponents to refer to someone who wants a big, hugely powerful government in English, though I definitely get where you are coming from using it here.
