Ofer Winter: "I made mistakes" after election failure

Res. Brigadier General Ofer Winter, chairman of the Amcha Yisrael party, published a detailed statement Wednesday evening in which he took personal responsibility for the party's failure to cross the electoral threshold in the Knesset elections. In a post on social media under the biblical heading "For I will yet believe in man and in his spirit, a strong spirit," he opened with pointed soul-searching and summed up a turbulent period since the events of October 7th.

"Since October 7th, I came to understand that the people of Israel need different leadership. Unifying leadership, leadership that strives for truth and justice, leadership that knows how to take responsibility. Leadership that knows how to make decisions," Winter wrote at the opening of his remarks. He added that together with "a wonderful group of people, every one of them a fighter," he tried to bring "a message of hope, partnership and security."

"Unfortunately, I did not succeed. Not yet," the party chairman admitted, adding: "In this journey I also made mistakes and the responsibility is mine." The statement comes after exit polls on all television channels placed his party well below the threshold, with the votes invested in it yielding no Knesset representation.

Despite the disappointing result, Winter made clear he has no intention of withdrawing from the political arena. "We are here. For a long and shared path," he conveyed, using the verse "Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy." In his remarks he noted that "the people have chosen, and the task of those elected is to bring them a good government because nothing less is worthy of them."

Winter thanked activists and voters who supported the party. "Thank you to all the partners, those who restored spirit and hope, to the amazing activists who did not stop for a moment. Thank you for believing in us, for walking this journey with us," he wrote. He praised "the team, than which there is none worthier, that fought to bring truth, to be worthy people, for you, for the people of Israel."

The statement concludes with a message of hope and unity: "I love you, I salute you, together and only together we will prevail." Winter's response comes a day after he told activists in his first speech on election night that "we came for the long haul, the journey has just begun," and pointed an accusing finger at the attacks directed against him from within the national camp.

Natalie Shem Tov, who was placed third on the party list, published an earlier pointed farewell statement in which she took full personal responsibility for the failure. "When you fail you take responsibility. I failed and I take full responsibility," wrote Shem Tov, who joined the political arena only a few months ago. She made clear she has no intention of withdrawing from public activity, praised Winter and called for the formation of a government.

The election campaign for the 26th Knesset was characterized by heavy pressure applied on Winter to withdraw from the race. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich appealed to him with repeated calls to withdraw his candidacy, out of concern that his party would not cross the threshold and would burn votes from the national camp. Smotrich even made Winter a dramatic offer, to withdraw from the race in exchange for a ministerial position in the Defense Ministry from the Religious Zionism party's quota.

In the final days before the election, Netanyahu and Smotrich convened dozens of local authority heads for an urgent emergency meeting, in which they warned of votes draining to the liberal right. "We need to wake people up, get them out of their homes to vote, so they don't vote for Liberman, G-d forbid," Netanyahu conveyed at that gathering. "We can win on condition that we get people out to vote. If he doesn't cross the threshold, the mandates pass to us."

Winter stood firm against the pressure and chose to continue in the race. In a sharp statement he published last week, he rejected the calls to withdraw and claimed that "harassment was employed, private investigators, the whole works." "We didn't come for a job, as you've become accustomed," he conveyed then. "We came to change and to lead a path."