Unknown in politics a year ago, he could become the successor of Benyamin Netanyahu. Benny Gantz has obtained, according to almost definitive estimates, 32 seats in the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, after the parliamentary elections on Tuesday, 17 September. It is little more than his rival Likud, the current prime minister. On the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, the race of the two competitors to form a majority was opened.
While "Bibi" must be able to count on the support of the religious parties and the radical right to form a majority of seats in Parliament, Gantz could welcome in his majority the parties of the left and, more hypothetically, the members of the "united list" of the Arab parties.
Wednesday morning, the former general said he wanted to form a "Broad unity government, expressing the will of the people". "We have started negotiations and I will speak with everyone," he added. In a column published Monday in major Israeli dailies, he said he wanted to lead the country in "The interest of all Israelis" and "Not in the interest of pressure groups".
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Flashy career in the IDF
The 60-year-old man embarked on politics in December 2018 with a new centrist party, the Bleu Blanc party (" Kahol Lavan » in Hebrew, the colors of the Israeli flag). In a few months, he managed to federate part of the anti-Likud electorate to reach, in the April elections, to match the list led by Benyamin Netanyahu. The latter failed to find, in a Knesset split between eleven parliamentary groups, a majority coalition in Parliament, new elections were convened for September 17.
Since then, General Gantz, more seasoned, returned to the fight, with a goal: to chase Benyamin Netanyahu, in power continuously for ten years. The fight, Benny Gantz knows: he was, from 2011 to 2015, the chief of staff of the Israeli army, crowning a career in the lightning IDF, central institution of the Jewish state.
Born in 1959 in Kfar Ahim, southern Israel, Benyamin "Benny" Gantz is the son of a survivor of the Holocaust. He enters the army at the age of 18, becomes a paratrooper and climbs the ladder at full speed. Battalion commander at 28, brigadier general at 39, general at 42, he is nicknamed "the prince" in the ranks, according to a portrait of him New York Times in January. During the last war in Gaza, he is in charge of the Israeli army. In a campaign video released in the spring, he prided himself on the number of 'Terrorists' Palestinians killed during this operation in 2014, without mentioning civilian casualties.
A security policy close to that of Netanyahu
From his life under the flag, Benny Gantz keeps a safe approach to politics, not far from that of Benyamin Netanyahu. If he had spoken in 2012, to relativize the Iranian threat by calling his leaders "Very rational people", his vision of an Israel threatened from all sides (Iran, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in the Gaza Strip) agrees with that of Likud.
"I do not foresee any real change in terms of security policy" in case of victory of the Bleu Blanc party, explained Agence France-Presse Jonathan Freeman, political scientist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Benny Gantz has also made an alliance with two other former chiefs of staff: Moshe Yaalon, former Minister of Defense of Netanyahu, and Gabi Ashkenazi, in office during the second term of "Bibi" in 2009.
The leader of the Blue White party says he wants to maintain Israeli military control over most of the occupied West Bank. In his manifesto, Bleu Blanc advocates a separation between Israelis and Palestinians, without specifically naming the solution to "Two states", which provides for the creation of a coexisting Palestinian state with Israel.
Palestinians, who were primarily concerned, appeared divided on the attitude to be held: if the head of the Palestinian diplomacy, Riyad Al-Maliki, assured that the Palestinian Authority was "Ready to sit" with the future prime minister, whoever he is, "To restart negotiations", stalled since 2014, President Mahmoud Abbas has pronounced unequivocally: "Our position: against Netanyahu".
"Zero tolerance" against corruption
In domestic politics, Benny Gantz has a more liberal face than "Bibi", which he accuses to jeopardize the institutions of the country – the current prime minister must appear in court on October 3 for corruption cases.
A father of four, this great football fan studied history and political science in his country before studying at the National Defense University in the United States. Head up, gaze right, Benny Gantz advocates the " zero tolerance " against corruption and appears as a rallyer.
Now instruct President Reuven Rivlin in the coming days to choose who, Gantz or Netanyahu, will be best placed to form a government.
