Former Defense Minister Benny Gantz Withdraws from Israeli Election Race

Benny Gantz, a former chief of the Israeli army and ex‑defence minister, announced on Monday that he will not run in the October 27 parliamentary election after opinion polls placed his Blue and White (Kahol Lavan) party below the 3.25 percent threshold needed to win seats in the 120‑member Knesset. The 67‑year‑old said he will “continue to work for unity” and is expected to hold a news conference later in the day.

Polls in the weeks leading up to the vote consistently showed Gantz’s party hovering under the required share of the vote, prompting the decision to withdraw. Gantz, who served as a main opposition leader and later joined a national unity government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from 2020 to 2021, also participated in Netanyahu’s war cabinet formed after the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023. He left the emergency cabinet in early June 2024, accusing Netanyahu of “preventing us from advancing toward true victory.”

Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Ramallah, said the withdrawal was not widely anticipated but fit a pattern of Gantz’s political behavior since he entered the arena in 2018. “This is a man who entered into unity governments with leaders – especially Netanyahu – that he expressly opposed,” Odeh noted. She added that Gantz’s call for unity was narrowly defined, referring only to a government of Zionist parties and excluding Palestinian‑Israeli or non‑Zionist parties, even if it meant re‑uniting with Netanyahu.

The race remains tight between Netanyahu’s Likud party, which leads a far‑right coalition, and a self‑styled Zionist opposition alliance. Neither bloc appears close to securing a parliamentary majority. Two Arab‑led lists representing Israel’s Palestinian citizens, who make up about 20 percent of the population, are projected to win a combined 13 seats and could become pivotal in any post‑election coalition, though both the Zionist and Arab blocs have ruled out partnering with them.

Opposition figures such as Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party and a potential prime‑ministerial candidate, praised Gantz’s decision as “correct” and “responsible.” Former Israeli ambassador and former consul general in New York Alon Pinkas told Al Jazeera that Gantz’s exit does not alter the political landscape. “Electorally, his departure from the political system is completely irrelevant and inconsequential,” he said, adding that Gantz had lost much of his aura after “overstaying his welcome in the Netanyahu government.”