Background
National Unity (also known as "State Camp") is an Israeli political alliance formed in 2022 (originally named "Blue and White") and led by Benny Gantz. The alliance originally included the Israel Resilience Party (led by Gantz); the New Hope party (led by Gideon Sa'ar); and Gadi Eisenkot and Matan Kahana, who did not belong to political parties and were elected to the Knesset as independent members of the alliance's electoral list. However, in 2024, New Hope left the alliance leaving only Gantz's Israel Resistance Party and the two MKs serving as independents within the alliance.
In early 2025, amid slipping support for the alliance in opinion polling for the next Israeli legislative election, speculation arose that Benny Gantz (head of National Unity) might be challenged for leadership of the alliance by Eisenkot (a member of the Knesset belonging to the alliance, and a former chief of the IDF). [1] Eisenkot joined the alliance in 2022 with the condition that Gantz would agree to later democratize its internal structure. [2] Haaretz reported that Gantz had previously promised Eisenkotz that a leadership election would be held before the next legislative election, and Gantz's avoidance of arranging for such a vote had become a point of frustration between them. [3] Reports emerged that Eisenkot was considering leaving the alliance and running on a competing electoral list for the next election, and that most of the Jewish parties of the Knesset's opposition were making overtures to him, including Bennett. [2] Scenario polls that included a party led by former prime minister Naftali Bennett contesting the legislative election, as is widely expected, showed that National Unity would win several more seats with Eisenkot at its helm than it would with Gantz. [3] In February, Gantz stated that he intended to remain the alliance's leader. [4]
On 8 June, the alliance announced that it would schedule a leadership election to be held in the coming months, and would additionally open its membership for public registration. [4] The election will be held amongst members of the party's central committee, which will be expanded as part of the process. [5] Haaretz reported that Eisenkot is considering a challenge to Gantz, [4] though Eisenkot announced on 30 June that he would leave the alliance and the Knesset. [6] The following day, it was announced that the alliance would be renamed "Blue and White", which it held previously, [7] though the party decided to rename the Knesset faction Blue and White-National Unity, which was approved by the Knesset House Committee on 7 July 2025. [8]
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
