Defense Secretary Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party and Attorney General Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope party have signed an agreement to run in the forthcoming Nov. 1 elections as a joint list, they announced Sunday night.
Gantz condemned extremist elements and told a news conference that the two parties will build a “responsible, realistic, safe and liberal” government. Such a coalition, he said, would say “no to racism, no to extremism, and yes to unity for all parts of the country and all types of citizens…ultra-Orthodox, orthodox, secular; Muslims, Christians, Druze and Jews.”
“Israel deserves better,” Gantz said, adding that voters “shouldn’t have to choose between the extremes,” but instead deserve a sensible, central option.
This was likely a reference to parties such as the predominantly Arab Joint List or the far-right Religious Zionism led by Bezalel Smotrich and including Itamar Ben Gvir, who leads the far-right Otzma Yehudit faction within the party. Ben Gvir entered the Knesset in the March 2021 election after merging Otzma Yehudit with religious Zionism in a deal brokered by then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to prop up right-wing votes.
For too long, Gantz said, Netanyahu has dragged the Likud party to positions that undermine national unity and damage Israel’s democratic principles.
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“We are laying the foundation for the next government,” said Gantz. He called on other groups “that align with our values” to join their union. His goal is to “unite all those who support a Jewish, democratic and secure Israel”.
Justice Minister Gideon Saar and Defense Secretary Benny Gantz announce a merger of their parties at a press conference on July 10, 2022. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
Gantz said he believes the joint list could appeal to “many people on the statesman right” who are looking for a political home.
“From the moment I entered politics, I have repeatedly said that we are in an illogical and unprecedented situation,” Gantz said of the ongoing political deadlock, calling it the “biggest democratic and political crisis in history.” [Israel’s] Story.”
Israel’s November 1 election will be the country’s fifth national vote since 2019.
An unsourced Channel 12 News report on Sunday said Gantz and Sa’ar decided their party would not sit in a government with Netanyahu, but while Gantz denounced the Likud leader, neither he nor Sa’ar closed him expressly as a potential partner in the next coalition.
In his speech on Sunday, Grantz praised the outgoing multi-party coalition led by Naftali Bennett until last month, but said some members on its fringes pulled it off the streets. Bennett’s unlikely alliance of right, center, left and Islamist parties lasted about a year before falling apart, ultimately hobbled by the loud departure of key lawmakers from Bennett’s Yamina party.
Then-outgoing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (right) and his interim successor Yair Lapid speak after the passage of a bill dissolving the Knesset on June 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Ariel Shalit)
After Gantz, Sa’ar said Israel needed “a new hope and a way out of this crisis.” He said he and Gantz have dedicated their lives to the State of Israel and agreed to join forces to create a “broad, patriotic centre-right” electoral list.
Sa’ar also said that Gantz – who will take the helm of the merged party – is the ideal candidate to lead the next government.
Blue and White currently holds 8 seats in the 120-member Knesset; New hope has 6.
In recent polls, which are not entirely reliable, Blue and White have been calculated at around 8-9 seats and New Hope at 4-5 seats.
Prime Minister Yair Lapid welcomed the news and said he believed in Gantz and Sa’ar’s good intentions.
“I wish Benny Gantz and Gideon Sa’ar the best of luck,” Lapid tweeted. “I’m sure your intentions are good. I look forward to continuing to work with you on behalf of the citizens of Israel.”
Prime Minister Yair Lapid chairs a cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem on July 10, 2022. (Marc Israel Sellem/POOL)
In the April 2019, September 2019 and March 2020 elections, Lapid’s Yesh Atid ran alongside Gantz’s Blue and White. Gantz then decided to join a Netanyahu-led coalition, causing the parties to split. They have remained separated ever since.
For their joint list, Gantz and Sa’ar are reportedly hoping to enlist former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, who is also heavily courted by Lapid’s Yesh Atid party and is considered a big catch for both parties due to his high public standing and general popularity .
According to Hebrew media reports, Eisenkot would take third place if he chose to run with a combined blue-white New Hope faction.
Eisenkot, who served as military chief of staff from 2015 to 2019, is credited with the ability to win voters from both the left and the right. The retired general was one of the most sought-after figures during the March 2021 election cycle, with reports linking his name to a number of parties, but he eventually chose not to run.
Former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, right, is interviewed by Amos Yadlin at the annual conference of the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv January 27, 2019. (INSS)
The remaining spots at the top of the joint list would be filled by Immigration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata (Blue and White), Culture Minister Chili Tropper (Blue and White), Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton (New Hope) and the Knesset’s Economic Committee chiefs Michael Biton (Blue and White) and Housing Minister Ze’ev Elkin (New Hope), according to reports.
Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel and MK Zvi Hauser, whose Derech Eretz party joined New Hope after splitting from a blue-white alliance, are unlikely to have spots on the list, although it was unclear which side made that reported decision .
According to the public broadcaster Kan, Hendel is said to be in talks with new Yamina leader Ayelet Shaked to potentially join forces.
Communications Minister Yoaz Henkell in Modi’in, December 5, 2021. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
In a Facebook post earlier Sunday, Hendel said he had no regrets about his tenure and believed he stood by his principles. “I will work hard to ensure that votes for the statesmanlike right wing will have respectable representation in the next Knesset,” he wrote. “I promise to update you soon.”