Benny Gantz withdraws from Israel’s election after polls put his party below threshold

Benny Gantz has withdrawn from Israel’s election race and will not run in the October 27 vote. The former army chief and defence minister leads the Blue and White (Kahol Lavan) party.

Opinion polls in the run-up to the election had consistently put Blue and White below the 3.25 percent threshold for a seat in the 120-member Knesset. Gantz said he would continue working for unity; a news conference was expected later on Monday.

Polls and the balance of power

Recent polls showed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and its far-right coalition in a close contest with an opposition alliance that describes itself as Zionist. Neither bloc appeared on track to win a parliamentary majority.

Two Arab-led electoral lists representing Palestinian citizens of Israel, who make up about 20 percent of the population, were projected to win 13 seats. Both main blocs have ruled out forming a government with them.

Gantz’s political record

Gantz, a former main opposition leader, served in a national unity government with Netanyahu from 2020 to 2021. After the Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, he joined the war cabinet formed to oversee the war in Gaza. He left the emergency cabinet in early June 2024.

At the time, Gantz said Netanyahu was preventing progress toward “true victory”. Opposition leaders, including Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot, welcomed Gantz’s decision to withdraw, calling it correct and responsible.

Al Jazeera correspondent Nour Odeh, reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, said Gantz’s call for unity referred to a government of Zionist parties and excluded Palestinian or non-Zionist parties. Former Israeli ambassador Alon Pinkas told the broadcaster that Gantz’s departure would not change the electoral landscape, saying he was unlikely to have a major impact on the election.