The Religious Zionism party stated after Blue and White leader Benny Gantz's withdrawal from the election race that the decision "stems from his responsibility not to lose votes to the left-wing bloc," while "on the right, there is this time complete irresponsibility on the part of Ofer Winter and other party fragments that are not approaching the electoral threshold and insist on throwing votes in the trash." Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi from Likud also stated: "Gantz shows responsibility, if Winter withdraws – I'll take my hat off to him."