Benjamin Gantz is an Israeli soldier and politician. He served as the 20th Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces from 2011 to 2015. In December 2018, he established a new political party named Israel Resilience. Gantz party is part of a larger left/centrist coalition called Blue and White. T
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday he was giving up his effort to form a new government after failing to secure a majority coalition in parliament following an inconclusive election in September.
Gantz’s Blue and White party was the largest to emerge from the Sept. 17 ballot, though he also has no clear path to a parliamentary majority. Should he also fail to bring in enough partners it would almost certainly lead to another general election, the third since April.
The third major party now is a coalition of Israeli Arab parties. Gantz can only form a government if the Arab List supports his election as Prime Minister. Even then Gantz is short of a majority needed to rule. The remaining group is a racist coalition led by Avigdor Lieberman who opposes Netanyahu’s relationship with Israel’s ultra religious parties as well as any coalition with the Arabs.
There appear to be only two alternatives to another election which might again be indecisive. One isa minority government led by Gantz. If this were down with support from the Arabs, the result could be a historic redirection fo Israel. The other is defections from Netanyahu’s Likud coalition to support Gantz as PM. Still, my uninformed guess is that Gantz will succeed.