Blue and White Party Chairman Benny Gantz toured southern Israeli communities of the Jewish State to rally support ahead of the upcoming 2 March elections.
The former IDF Chief of Staff commanded the nation’s armed forces during the 2014 war with Gaza, and is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s most formidable political challenger.
Seemingly capitalizing on widespread frustration over Netanyahu’s inability to provide security to residents targeted by years of terrorism emanating from nearby Gaza, which Gantz pledged to reinstate if elected. “We came down south to support the leaders and the people in the south that are under attack,” said Lt.-Gen. Gantz, insisting, “We cannot accept any more any kind of aggression whether it’s from Hamas or Jihad Islamic, Palestinian groups – we don’t care. There was deterrence in this area, and we are going to restore it once we take the power in the government – which we believe and hope will happen on March 2nd.”
According to the latest public opinion polls, Netanyahu and Gantz remain neck-and-neck at 34 mandates each for the 120-member Knesset. The expected-take of 7 seats by Yisrael Beiteinu reinforces the status of Faction Chairman Avigdor Liberman as the so-called ‘kingmaker’ during future coalition-building attempts by either of the two major contenders, given the likelihood that neither will be able to capture an outright 61-seat majority .