Benny Gantz stood on the ridge line and peered through the mist towards the Syrian border below. 

The former general who hopes to be Israel’s next prime minister looks like a leader. He is 6ft 4in tall, towering over his armed bodyguards, and has broad shoulders. 

But when Mr Gantz finally spoke on the Golan, the territory captured by Israel from Syria in the 1967 war, he said little that would distinguish him from Benjamin Netanyahu, who he aims to defeat in next month’s elections.  

Like the current prime minister, he promised to fight against Iran in Syria and that he would never give the strategic Golan back to the Assad regime. “We will never relinquish the Golan Heights,” he said. 

Mr Gantz then…