Arabic version: بيني غانتس ينسحب من السباق الانتخابي في إسرائيل

According to Al Jazeera, Benny Gantz has withdrawn from Israel’s election race after polls showed his Blue and White (Kahol Lavan) party below the threshold required to enter parliament. Gantz, a former Israeli army chief and defence minister, said on Monday that he would not run in the October 27 vote and would “continue to work for unity”.

The 67-year-old was expected to hold a news conference later on Monday. Polling ahead of the election had consistently put Blue and White below the 3.25 percent threshold needed to enter the 120-seat Knesset, Israel’s parliament.

Gantz, a former main opposition leader, served with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a national unity government from 2020 to 2021. He later joined Netanyahu’s war cabinet, formed after the Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Gantz left the emergency cabinet in early June 2024, saying Netanyahu “is preventing us from advancing toward true victory”.

Recent polling showed Netanyahu’s Likud party and its far-right coalition in a close race with a self-styled Zionist opposition alliance, with neither side appearing set to secure a parliamentary majority. Two Arab-led electoral lists representing Palestinian citizens of Israel are projected to win 13 seats, though both main blocs have ruled out forming a government with them. Opposition figures, including Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot, called Gantz’s decision “correct” and “responsible”, while former diplomat Alon Pinkas said the withdrawal would not materially change the election contest.