Blue and White Party leader MK Benny Gantz on Wednesday called for a national unity government without Ra’am (United Arab List) and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit).
In its new election campaign, Blue and White released a series of videos described as “nightmare scenarios” that it claimed would occur if “a government controlled by extremists comes to power again.”
The videos include the campaign slogan, “A national unity government, without Ben-Gvir and without Ra’am.”
In one clip, a frightened family watches a news broadcast after the 2026 election in which Ben-Gvir is announced as the defense minister.
In another clip, a family hears air-raid sirens as the country is under attack, while Ra’am chairman MK Mansour Abbas appears to be a member of the government who is blocking the cabinet from convening.
“In the previous elections, we warned about the November [2022 election result] nightmare, which quickly proved to be real, and many Israeli citizens have been living with this nightmare ever since,” Gantz said at the launch of the campaign.
“We will not let this happen again and will do everything to free the State of Israel from extremists, from the bloc strategy, and to establish a broad Zionist government that acts for all citizens of Israel and the State of Israel,” he said.
Polls show Blue and White struggling as Gantz faces criticism
The elections are scheduled to take place no later than this coming October.
Polls in recent months have shown the Blue and White Party repeatedly failing to pass the electoral threshold. It has suffered several blows, including having several of its MKs announce they were leaving the party over the past year.
One of the most significant departures was Gantz’s No. 2, former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the competing Yashar! Party, which consistently passes the electoral threshold in polls.
Throughout the week, reports circulated that MK Chili Tropper was considering leaving Blue and White. In response to a query from The Jerusalem Post, Tropper’s office denied the claim.
Although Blue and White is in the opposition, Gantz has joined two unity governments under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the past. He has been criticized for a back-and-forth approach.
Gantz brought his party into Netanyahu’s government for a brief period at the start of the Israel-Hamas War. He returned to the opposition in June 2024, however, claiming that Netanyahu was making political considerations part of his wartime decision-making.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) criticized Gantz’s campaign on Wednesday, saying it did not reflect reality.
“We launched an operation in Gaza while Ra’am was in the coalition and Gantz was minister of defense, so what’s the point of this? In the end, it only serves Netanyahu,” he told Army Radio.
Lapid’s remarks referred to the 2021 Naftali Bennett-Lapid government, the first governing coalition to include an Arab party.
In response, Gantz said: “Lapid is lying.” In the past government, Lapid was blocked from passing legislation that would have helped soldiers because Ra’am was in the coalition, he said.
Gantz also accused Lapid of “flip-flopping.”
“Let’s remind everyone that just in September, he said it would be impossible to form a government that relies on the Arab parties,” he said.
Hadash-Ta’al chairman Ayman Odeh, leader of secular Arab Party Hadash-Tal criticized Gantz on Tuesday.
“We, the Arab citizens of the state, make up 20% of the population,” he said. “Despite the incitement and wild racism, despite the abandonment and hatred, we will go out and vote en masse.”
Without Arab parties, “it is impossible to build a real alternative to the Ben-Gvir, [Religious Zionist Party chairman Bezalel] Smotrich, and Netanyahu government,” Odeh said.
He has repeatedly called on all Arab parties to join forces and merge into a single party ahead of the election.