With a drop in the popularity of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and an increase in anti-government protests, some political, academic, media, and military figures have started looking for a replacement.
Suggestions have been made for outgoing Israeli Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot to replace Netanyahu.
Supporters of Eizenkot believe he’s a charismatic leader with strong personality, and favor him over Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz.
Sami Peretz, editor in chief of TheMarker, affirmed in an article that there is a real political crisis in Israel.
According to him, Eizenkot seems to have better chances than Gantz, who heads the Blue and White Party, or Gabi Ashkenazi and Moshe Yaalon.
Peretz lauded Eizenkot for succeeded in pushing Netanyahu to block the tunnels that Hezbollah had built in southern Lebanon, on Israel’s northern border, and for responding to the Ministry of Finance request to boost the Israeli army's efficiency.
His work as a military secretary to prime ministers Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert has granted him a rich political experience, Peretz added.
However, a different point of view, such as the one expressed by TV star Orit Lavi Nesiel, says that most Israeli generals have failed to become outstanding politicians.
Nesiel says anyone, who hopes that a new general appears for rescue from the corrupt rule of Netanyahu, is deluded.
Elections loom on the horizon, she says, stressing the need for a rational leadership that heals wounds and restructures the public interest on the bases of integrity, liberal democracy and civil equality.
A new survey showed Wednesday that the popularity of Netanyahu's Likud Party is dropping, and could only get 10 seats in any new election.
Anti-government protests have rattled Israel for the past three weeks. Around 1,000 have protested near the house of minister of public security Amir Ohana after ordering the police to disperse demonstrators outside the government’s headquarters.
