Pressure on Benny Gantz to withdraw from the Knesset race is mounting. According to a Ynet report, senior members of the Change Bloc have been working in recent days to persuade the Blue And White chairman not to run in the elections, arguing that an independent run could waste votes and make it more difficult for the bloc to form a government.

The pressure stems from Blue And White’s standing in the polls. The party is currently nowhere near the electoral threshold. It received only 1% in a Channel 12 News poll published this week, and it has also failed to win any seats in other polls conducted in recent weeks.

Tensions intensified after Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot defined the Change Bloc as a camp comprising four parties: Yashar, Beyachad, Yisrael Beiteinu And The Democrats. Eisenkot called on the bloc’s parties to coordinate their efforts and, after the elections, rally behind whichever party wins the broadest support among the bloc’s voters. Gantz’s Blue And White is not included in that framework.

Yisrael Beiteinu also joined the attack. MK Yulia Malinovsky claimed that Gantz’s continued candidacy would waste approximately NIS 15 million in public party-financing funds, even though, according to her, his party has no realistic chance of crossing the electoral threshold. She even used the phrase “laundering in the public sense,” while clarifying that she was not alleging a criminal offense.

Blue And White rejected the pressure, arguing that Gantz offers a different political course aimed at establishing a broad, cross-bloc Zionist government after the elections. His associates made clear that he has no intention of withdrawing and plans to remain in the race until the end.

Blue And White itself has also experienced upheaval recently. Knesset members and other faction officials criticized Gantz’s decision to continue running independently, and several senior party figures have already left. Nevertheless, Gantz continues to insist that his refusal to commit in advance to a narrow government led by either bloc is precisely the foundation of his political platform.

The battle over Gantz is expected to intensify as Election Day approaches. From the Change Bloc’s perspective, every slate that fails to cross the electoral threshold could cost the bloc votes. From Gantz’s perspective, withdrawing now would mean abandoning the platform he is seeking to present to the public: a broad government that is not entirely dependent on either bloc.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)