Benny Gantz, the ex-IDF commander who is set to end Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 13-year tenure, is mostly an unknown entity outside of Israel. Who is he and what can we expect from a Gantz government?
A career soldier enters politics
Gantz, 60, spent 38 years in the Israel Defense Forces, serving as chief of general staff of the IDF from 2011 to 2015. He retired from the military in 2015 at the rank of Lieutenant General. He is best known for his leadership role in Israel’s highly controversial assaults on Gaza in 2012 and 2014.
In 2018, he formed a new political party, Israel Resilience. A year later, his party joined forces with the moderate ‘There is a Future’ party to create a centrist bloc. Named after the colors of the Israeli flag, the ‘Blue and White’ bloc won 35 seats in the Knesset in April’s election, stripping seats from Netanyahu’s center-right coalition. Instead of stepping down as prime minister, Netanyahu called for new elections in September. The gamble didn’t pay off, with Blue and White securing 33 seats over Likud’s 31.
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