{"id":96558,"date":"2026-10-20T08:19:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T13:19:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/?p=96558"},"modified":"2026-10-20T08:19:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T13:19:18","slug":"blue-and-white-partys-benny-gantz-quits-knesset-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/blue-and-white-partys-benny-gantz-quits-knesset-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue and White Party\u2019s Benny Gantz quits Knesset race"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By JNS STAFF<\/p>\n<p>(JNS.org) \u2013&nbsp;Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz announced on Monday night that he was dropping out of the Oct. 27 Knesset election. Gantz conceded that he \u201cdid not succeed in convincing enough of the people of our path.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_96559\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Benny_Gantz.webp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-96559\" class=\"wp-image-96559 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Benny_Gantz-300x169.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Benny_Gantz-300x169.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Benny_Gantz-768x432.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Benny_Gantz.webp 1000w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/169;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-96559\" class=\"wp-image-96559 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Benny_Gantz-300x169.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Benny_Gantz-300x169.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Benny_Gantz-768x432.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Benny_Gantz.webp 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-96559\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Blue and White Party chairman Benny Gantz speaks during a press conference at Kfar Maccabiah in Ramat Gan, announcing his withdrawal from the upcoming Knesset elections, Oct. 19, 2026. Photo by Avshalom Sassoni\/Flash90.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cI am still convinced that our path is the right one\u2014the need for a Zionist, cross-bloc unity government is greater than any person or party, and it is the only solution in the face of the challenges, the dangers and also the opportunities facing the people of Israel,\u201d Gantz wrote on X.<\/p>\n<p>He urged leaders across the political spectrum: \u201cDon\u2019t return us to Oct. 7.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If they fail to change course, he warned, \u201cthe people will continue to be torn apart, and we will reach repeat elections or, God forbid, disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gantz said he knew that his decision to join a wartime emergency government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre could carry \u201ca heavy political price.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI always was, and forever will be, a soldier of Israel, before everything,\u201d Gantz wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Gantz, the 20th chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, served as the Israeli military\u2019s top commander from 2011 to 2015 and held a series of senior positions during his 38-year military career.<\/p>\n<p>As chief of staff, Gantz led the IDF during Operation Pillar of Defense (2012), Operation Brother\u2019s Keeper (2014) and Operation Protective Edge (2014).<\/p>\n<p>The founder of the Blue and White Party, Gantz ended more than a year of political deadlock following the March 2020 elections by joining a unity government with Likud, later serving as alternate prime minister and defense minister.<\/p>\n<p>Following the Hamas in southern Israel on Oct. 7, Gantz joined the emergency government, serving as a minister without portfolio and member of the War Cabinet until June 2024.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Blue%20and%20White%20Party%E2%80%99s%20Benny%20Gantz%20quits%20Knesset%20race\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":96559,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,1794],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96558"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96558"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96560,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96558\/revisions\/96560"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}