New Right party courts former ambassador, brigadier general

The New Right Party wants a former brigadier general and a one-time Israeli ambassador to the U.N. and Great Britain. The two have been wooed by other parties as well.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The New Right Party led by Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked have offered places on their list to a soldier and a diplomat, according to Israeli radio station Kan Bet on Sunday.

Former Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor and Brig. Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch have been approached by the leaders of the new right-wing party to run on their candidate list for the Knesset in the April 9 elections.

Prosor, who served as Israel’s ambassador to Great Britain and the United Nations and has nearly three decades of experience under his belt at Israel’s foreign ministry, currently heads the Abba Eban Institute for International Diplomacy in IDC Herzliya’s Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy & Strategy.

Prosor, who served as Israel’s ambassador to the U.N. from 2011-2015, has criticized the world body, especially the U.N. Human Rights Council, for its anti-Israel bias, attacking it in Newsweek, The New York Times and other publications.

Months before Israel’s withdrawal from UNESCO on January 1, he wrote on Israel’s Ynet news site that the anti-Israel resolutions the organization passes are no less than “diplomatic terrorism” and should be met with a continuous effort to “proactively fight for the historical truth, without hesitating.”

Prosor endorses the two-state solution to the Arab-Israel conflict, but says any future Palestinian state must be demilitarized, that unilateral international recognition of a Palestinian state pushes peace further away, and that the only way forward is direct negotiations without preconditions.

According to Kan Bet, Prosor says that he has not yet decided if he was going to go into politics, although “after more than 30 years in public service I still have a lot to contribute to the country,” and that the coming elections “certainly are an opportunity.”

A brigadier general

Bennett and Shaked also approached Brig. Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch, who served for 25 years in the Israel Defense Forces, receiving several awards as he rose from elite units to command the 91^st Division, which was in charge of the northern border during the Second Lebanon War.

In 2015, Hirsch was nominated to become Israel’s next police commissioner. He was dropped from consideration when accusations targeted him for various business dealings.

A years-long investigation came up with nothing, and in December he announced that he would enter politics.

“What is right for the nation is to be a right-wing nationalist on security but also [to have] concern and compassion because I always think about minorities, the elderly and the situation of the other,” he said at a December 26 press conference when he announced his foray into the political arena.

Hirsch, who has been wooed by the Likud, didn’t comment on the New Right’s offer.

The only person to confirm her entrance to the New Right list is Jerusalem Post editor, author and right-wing commentator Caroline Glick.

Radio station Kan Bet reports that confidantes of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the New Right party is already considered to be part of any coalition that the Likud would build should it win the upcoming elections.

Ayelet Shakedcaroline glickGal HirschIsraeli election 2019Naftali Bennett