The anti-Netanyahu opposition bloc is planning an intensive campaign to pressure Blue and White leader Benny Gantz to drop out of the election, arguing that his struggling party could undermine their chances of defeating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The effort comes as polls continue to show Blue and White well below the electoral threshold, meaning votes cast for the party could be effectively lost if it fails to win enough support to enter the Knesset.
Benny Gantz
(Photo: Yuval Chen)
Gadi Eisenkot, a former IDF chief of staff who now leads the Yashar party, has said the opposition’s so-called “bloc for change” consists of only four parties: Yashar, Beyachad, Yisrael Beytenu and the Democrats. A vote for any other party, he has argued, effectively helps Netanyahu.
Gantz, himself a former IDF chief of staff and defense minister, has refused to commit to providing the decisive 61st Knesset seat needed to form a government led by Eisenkot, his former senior political partner. He has also declined to make such a commitment to Netanyahu.
Opposition figures have now decided to increase pressure on Gantz to withdraw because of his persistently weak polling.
A senior figure in the bloc for change accused Gantz of allowing personal considerations to dictate his decision.
“Gantz is driven by personal frustration over his political situation,” the official said. “As far as he is concerned, there is no problem with Netanyahu continuing to serve as the next prime minister.”
A source close to Gantz strongly rejected the accusations, arguing that his message of broad national unity and political consensus could ultimately lead to the formation of a broad Zionist government.
“Nothing will change it — Gantz is running until the end,” the source said.
Yisrael Beytenu lawmaker attacks cost of Gantz campaign
Yisrael Beytenu lawmaker Yulia Malinovsky escalated the criticism Wednesday, arguing that Gantz’s continued campaign was also wasting taxpayer money.
“Gantz’s run is not only pathetic, it is also wasting Israeli citizens’ money,” Malinovsky said. “Gantz and anyone with eyes can see the polls and knows the situation — there is no chance in the world that Blue and White crosses the electoral threshold.”
She accused Gantz of preparing to spend 15 million shekels (about $5 million) in public party financing on advertising and public relations despite, she said, knowing that his party had no realistic chance of entering parliament.
“It is all because of personal whims and ego,” she said.
Malinovsky went further, using the language of money laundering while explicitly saying she was not alleging a criminal offense.
“There is no money laundering here in the criminal sense, but there is laundering in the public sense,” she said. “I believe there are many interested parties profiting from the millions Gantz is distributing from all of our taxes. It may not be criminal, but it smells terrible.”
Blue and White No. 2 Pnina Tamano-Shata rejected the attack, accusing other opposition parties of engaging in an “anti-democratic” campaign to force Gantz out.
“The bloc for change’s anti-democratic attempt to engineer public opinion against Gantz continues,” she said. “Anyone who doesn’t fall into line gets their head cut off.”
Tamano-Shata described the criticism of Gantz and Blue and White as an attempt by opposition rivals to silence what she called a moderate voice seeking national unity and a broad Zionist government.
She also rejected Malinovsky’s criticism of the party’s use of public funds, saying Blue and White had conducted itself properly.
“We are running until victory,” she said.
Dissent grows inside Blue and White
The outside pressure comes amid growing unrest within Gantz’s own party.
In recent weeks, Blue and White figures have warned that Gantz is “taking the party into oblivion,” particularly over his refusal to promise that he would provide the 61st vote needed to establish a government headed by Eisenkot.
Former Blue and White lawmaker Yael Ron Ben Moshe, who announced her departure from the party last month, accused Gantz of damaging the broader opposition camp.
She said the possibility that some parties in the bloc might refuse to join a government Eisenkot sought to form represented “an extremely serious risk” and a “bright red line.”
Remaining Blue and White lawmakers have also considered giving Gantz an ultimatum, according to party officials, under which they would refuse to continue campaigning with him if it became clear the party had no realistic chance of crossing the electoral threshold.
“There are lawmakers in the faction who are saying explicitly that they will not go with him all the way just to throw away or waste votes,” one Blue and White official said.
The official accused Gantz of effectively holding his lawmakers hostage to his political ambitions rather than allowing them to pursue other options before the election.
“Instead of releasing the lawmakers and allowing them to take a new path, he demands that they show loyalty and continue with him until the end,” the official said.
Under Israel’s proportional representation system, parties that fail to cross the electoral threshold receive no Knesset seats, potentially making a small party running independently consequential in the closely fought battle to assemble the 61 seats required for a parliamentary majority.