Benny Gantz, a former Israeli military chief of staff and defense minister, has pulled out of the election race after opinion polls showed his party falling short of the threshold needed to enter parliament.
The Blue and White (Kahol Lavan) leader announced on Monday that he will not stand in the October 27 vote and said he would "continue to work for unity." The 67-year-old politician was expected to hold a news conference the same day.
Pre-election surveys had consistently placed Gantz's party below the 3.25% minimum required to win a seat in the 120-member Knesset.
Gantz was once the main opposition leader and served in a national unity government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from 2020 to 2021. He also joined Netanyahu's war cabinet, the body set up to oversee Israel's military campaign in Gaza after the Hamas-led attacks of October 2023. In early June 2024, Gantz left the emergency cabinet, saying Netanyahu was "preventing us from advancing toward true victory."
According to an Al Jazeera correspondent in Ramallah, Gantz's decision to quit the race was "not really predicted," though many will see it as a move "consistent with the way he has behaved" since entering politics in 2018. Gantz has been described as someone who joined unity governments with leaders he publicly opposed, particularly Netanyahu.
His unity message was seen as narrow in scope, referring only to "a unity government of Zionist parties" and excluding the parties of Palestinian citizens of Israel and non-Zionist parties, even if that means returning Netanyahu to power.
"Irrelevant and inconsequential"
Recent surveys showed Netanyahu's Likud party and the far-right bloc he leads in a tight race with an opposition alliance that describes itself as Zionist, though neither side appeared to be on course for a parliamentary majority.
Two Arab-led electoral lists representing Palestinian citizens of Israel, who make up about 20% of the population, were projected to win 13 seats and could play a pivotal role in any post-election coalition. However, both main blocs have ruled out forming a government with those lists.
Several opposition leaders, including Gadi Eisenkot, the head of the Yashar party and a potential candidate for prime minister, welcomed Gantz's decision, calling it the "right" and "responsible" choice.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, former Israeli ambassador Alon Pinkas said Gantz's exit would not change the political landscape because he had not been a major factor in the election outcome. "Electorally, his departure from the political system is completely irrelevant and inconsequential. Politically, too," he said, arguing that Gantz had lost "most of his aura" by "staying in Netanyahu's government for too long."
