Rumblings in Blue and White of leadership challenge to Gantz
Benny Gantz has frequently been accused of being indecisive and to willing to bend to the circumstances dictated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
By JEREMY SHARONUpdated: DECEMBER 14, 2020 20:41Blue and White leader Benny Gantz is seen during the preliminary vote to dissolve the Knesset on December 2, 2020.(photo credit: ALEX KOLOMOISKY/YEDIOT AHARONOT/POOL)
With Blue and White’s standing in the polls having plummeted significantly in recent days, rumblings of discontent within the party towards the leadership of party chairman and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz are getting stronger.According to a report in Israel Hayom, a senior Blue and White official told the outlet that the party has to “think about a new path and examine if a change in the position of party leader is required.”The official said Blue and White needed to remain an alternative to the current political leadership of the country and that “with the current composition [of the party] all of this stands under a big question mark.”Gantz has frequently been accused of being indecisive and too willing to bend to the circumstances dictated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn is one of the most senior Blue and White Party members to have expressed criticism of Gantz in recent weeks, particularly over a recent agreement with the Likud to approve several senior administrative positions in the government bureaucracy.Speculation has even been made that Nissenkorn might split off entirely from Blue and White and form his own faction.A source in Blue and White told The Jerusalem Post on Monday that there was indeed “frustration” with Gantz’s leadership, particularly his indecisiveness which has made him look weak.The source said however that although there are elements who wish to see Gantz replaced, the majority of the current MKs remain supportive of him at the moment.The proximate cause of the recent decline in Blue and White’s standing in the polls appears to be the announcement that renegade Likud MK Gideon Sa’ar is forming his own, right-wing party to challenge Netanyahu’s hold on power.Center-right voters who voted Blue and White in the last three elections to do just that, appear inclined to switch their allegiance to Sa’ar instead.
