Gantz Closes Gap on Netanyahu

Dramatic Rise in Polls After Debut Speech

In first, Gantz projected to have path to victory if he joins forces with Lapid ? Netanyahu, Gantz tied when Israelis asked who should be prime minister

Haaretz

Benny Gantz greeting supporters at the Tel Aviv Convention Center, January 29, 2019.
Tomer Appelbaum

Former Israeli military chief Benny Gantz, largely considered the top rival to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the upcoming Israeli elections, would receive 21 to 24 Knesset seats if the election was held today – eight seats more than the previous polls predicted. The dramatic rise comes one day after Gantz gave his first public remarks on his political platform in Tel Aviv.

Likud is forecast to receive 30 to 31 seats out of the 120-seat Knesset, while an alliance between Gantz and Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid would receive 35 seats with Gantz at the helm.

When asked who should be prime minister, 36% of those polled by Channel 12 said Netanyahu while 35% said Gantz.

A poll held last week showed that Netanyahu would lose four Knesset seats if Attorney General Avichai Medelblit announces his intention to indict him for accepting bribes ahead of the election.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset, Jerusalem, January 20, 2019.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset, Jerusalem, January 20, 2019. Emil Salman

According to the poll, if the election is held today, Yesh Atid would receive 9 to 11 seats, Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked’s new party, Hayamin Hehadash, would receive six to eight seats and United Torah Judaism, the ultra-Orthodox joint ticket, would receive six to seven seats. The Joint List would receive six seats, Ta’al six to eight, while Shas would receive four to five seats. Kulanu would get 4 to 5 seats, Yisrael Beiteinu with four seats, Meretz four to six seats while Orli Levi-Abekasis’s party Gesher might not pass the electoral threshold according to some polls or might get four seats.

More details soon 

January 31, 2019 | 19 Comments »

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  2. Although he later denied it that this was his intention, Gantz broadly hinted in a recent interview in Yediot Achranot. that he intended to evacuate many settlers from Judea-Smaria and hand over the region to the PLO. Here is an article from Arutz Sheva that quotes his remarks at some length:

    Benny Gantz: ‘We need to take lessons of Gaza pullout, apply them elsewhere’
    Israel Resilience Party chairman defends execution of 2005 Gaza pullout, hints at future evacuations.

    Benny Gantz
    Former IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, now chairman of the Israel Resilience Party, appeared to defend the Oslo Accords and 2005 Gaza Disengagement plan, telling Yediot Ahronot the lessons of the pullout should be applied to other areas.

    Gantz, who is running on a joint ticket with former Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon’s Telem faction, sat down for a full-length interview published by Yediot Wednesday morning.

    When pressed on Yaalon’s opposition to the Oslo Accords and the Gaza Disengagement, Gantz appeared to defend both.

    “The central question is a security question. We need to ensure the State of Israel’s security. Now, we have here a question of interests – and even Bibi [Netanyahu] said this at his Bar Ilan address [in 2009] – that we don’t want to rule over anyone else. We need to find a way for us not to be governing other people.

    “The [Gaza] Disengagement was carried out based on the State of Israel’s policy concerns. All the sides involved got high scores for the ability to not tear the country apart when [the Disengagement] was carried out.

    “It was a legal undertaking, which was adopted by the Israeli government and carried out by the IDF and the settlers in a way that was painful, but also good. We need to take the lessons [we learned there] and apply them elsewhere.”

    Following Gantz’s comments in regard to the 2005 Gaza pullout, the Israel Resilience Party released a statement playing down the former IDF chief’s support for the Disengagement.

    In the statement, the party said it would oppose future “unilateral decisions” on settlement evacuations.

    “The Disengagement was led and executed by a legitimate government headed by the Likud and was supported by Netanyahu and other Likud leaders, with Miri Regev acting as its spokesperson.”

    “Under Gantz, no unilateral decisions will be made on settlement evacuation, and the issue of conclusions drawn from the Disengagement discussed in the article relates to the importance of preventing a divide between Israelis and maintaining non-negotiable security protections in any future initiatives.”

  3. Gantz just gave his first interview to Yediot Ahranot. Part of it aired he probably put out stuff the left, center and certainly the right all hated! Made it sound like the Gaza retreat was a good thing and is a model with lessons to take from for Judea/Samaria.

    Friday the rest of the interviews airs. If it is as bad he will start going down in popularity I believe.

  4. Another important warning to the right over its suicidal divisiveness, from Israel Hayom:

    Beware of a repeat of ’92!
    The late Rabbi Moshe Levinger was a great man. In the 1970s and 1980s, he became known for his contribution to the renewal of Jewish life in the historic land of Israel, particularly Hebron – the city of the Patriarchs. But from 1992 until his death in 2015, Levinger stayed out of public life. One reason for that was the part he played in the national camp losing the 1992 election.

    That year, no fewer than six parties were vying for right-wing votes, both religious and secular: Rafael Eitan’s Tzomet; Tehiya, led by Yuval Neeman; Moledet under Rehavam Ze’evi; the National Religious Party; and the parties of Rabbis Eliezer Mizrahi (Geulat Yisrael) and Levinger (Torah Ve’eretz Yisrael), who planned to take votes from the NRP.

    At the time, some warned that votes would be wasted and Knesset seats lost, but the party leaders didn’t heed their warnings. Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir wasn’t good enough for them and they started splitting ideological hairs. Certain that the Right would win, the parties stayed in the election until the end, which led to disastrous results. Tehiya, Mizrahi, and Levinger failed to reach the minimum electoral threshold, which cost the Right precious seats and led to the establishment of a left-wing government and – two years later – the return of PLO founder Yasser Arafat.

    It’s been 27 years, and it looks as if the national camp, particularly the wing that is more to the Right than the Likud, is on the same path. In 2019, we’re also seeing six parties jockeying for position in the small sector to the Right of the mother party: Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked’s New Right; Habayit Hayehudi under Rafi Peretz; the National Union under MK Bezalel Smotrich; Zehut and Otzma Yehudit, led by far-right activists Moshe Feiglin and Baruch Marzel, respectively; and former Shas leader Eli Yishai’s Yachad party. Every one of these party leaders is convinced that he can draw enough support to make it into the even though the minimum electoral threshold (3.25%) is higher now than it used to be, and it takes about 150,000 votes to reach it.

    This situation will undoubtedly lead to a loss of votes on the Right. Even if some of these parties were to merge, it wouldn’t be enough, because too many players are crowded onto too small a field. In the 2015 election, Yishai and Marzel ran together but didn’t make it over the minimum threshold, which led to the Right losing at least four seats. This time, with more parties competing in the exact same sector, it will be even more complicated to arrange a joint ticket.

    And we haven’t even discussed Shas itself, under the leadership of Aryeh Deri; Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu party, and MK Orly Levy-Abekasis’ Gesher – all three of which will also take votes from the national camp and are also hovering around the minimum threshold. This is the first time since the 1999 election that we’ve seen this happen and like it did then, the Left is hammering a wedge into the Right by putting up a candidate with security credentials and who has the support of the media.

    Given that, anyone who sees himself as a public leader and is running for the Knesset must demonstrate responsibility to the values he represents and to the voters who support him. They expect him not to waste their votes, and mainly not to turn their ballots into a card with which to beat their political rivals.

    So even it entails concessions and compromises, any leader of a right-wing party must think about the big picture and not just his personal aspirations, however important they might be. If the Left wins, anyone who doesn’t do that will be permanently tainted. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is doing the right thing by attempted to unite the Right. However, his public attack on Likud member Gideon Sa’ar doesn’t quite square with the message of unity he is espousing.

  5. A very wise warning to the Right from Israel Hayom:

    A moment of truth
    About a month ago, long before the Prime Minister’s Office was focusing on it, I called on Habayit Hayehudi to merge with Eli Yishai and Otzma Yehudit. The common ground between religious Zionism and these parties is far greater than what separates them. The union doesn’t have to be complete; it just needs to be an ad hoc, pragmatic partnership for the sake of a supreme goal: preventing the right-wing bloc from losing precious votes in the upcoming general election.

    We all lived through the trauma of 1992, which led to the rise of the government that agreed to the blood-soaked Oslo Accords, which brought a disaster down on us. In the last election, more than 120,000 ballots cast for parties in these two streams that didn’t make it past the minimum electoral threshold were wasted. Isn’t that a shame?

    The Left, as usual, has started its pseudo-moralistic celebrations and within three seconds was referring to “Kahane-ism” and “Nazism.” There isn’t enough space here to elaborate on the hypocrisy of that bunch. They can’t teach anyone about morality. If getting control of the government were in the balance, they themselves would make a deal with the late Meir Kahane. In effect, they do that in every election cycle: When they calculate possible coalitions, they count the Arab parties, all of which reject the right of the Jewish people to national self-determination and the idea of a Jewish state. Not to mention that they are identified with terrorists and the enemies of the Jewish state. And we haven’t even mentioned the bigamists and the misogynists and the radicals. The Left is allowed to form alliances with all of them – “for the sake of peace,” of course.

    A Tehran-like demand

    I’ll say it again: Right-wing activist Itamar Ben-Gvir, for example, is much preferable to Hagai El-Ad, the head of B’Tselem, who travels the world spreading blood libels about Israel, thereby providing indirect justification for terrorism against the Jewish people and their state. To our disgrace, he isn’t the only one the Left holds up as a moral role model. But we don’t live according to their dictates. Let them go crazy and call us names. They did it to Menachem Begin and Ze’ev Jabotinsky, and even to Zevulun Hammer. As far as the Left is concerned, we’ve always been fascists, neo-Nazis, messianic, and a bunch of other curses. The Tehran-like demand is aimed at the Right only. There is no morality in this “Tehranism,” only a desire to control the boundaries of the political opponent’s legitimacy and prevent unification. The Right losing votes is good for the Left. Writing here, I have opposed the disqualification of the Arab Balad party and the sanctions against MK Hanin Zoabi. Our democracy is strong enough, I said, to include even those extremist elements. So with all due respect, shouldn’t we enjoy the same rights?

    The moderation of the Right

    It looks like what most disturbs those who oppose unification on the Right is the prospect of the extreme right-wing drawing closer and becoming more moderate. Cooperating with more moderate ideologies will moderate the extremists among us. Not every tenet of the extreme Right is unacceptable. Love for the land, love for the people, and love for the Torah are things many people share. There is disagreement about how to express them, about what they mean, about conduct. It is better to talk about it than to marginalize them. But the Left can’t control its need for the existence of an extremist specter that will allow it to tar the entire Right with the same brush – all settlers, all religious, all haredim and the rest of the colorful pejoratives.

    This is a moment of truth for religious Zionism and the Right as a whole. Are we ready to free our thinking from the controlling grip of the Left, which for years decided how much legitimacy the Right would have? The insanity has gotten so out of hand that we’ve accepted the new geometry of the leftist propagandists: terms like “centrist,” “neither Right nor Left,” “Center-Left,” which settled into our language, even though we know they’re deceptive. These are different names for the same two tribes that since the start of the 20th century have been battling for control of the Zionist ship. Let’s hope that our friends in Habayit Hayehudi will be wise enough to unite with other parties and hold on to valuable votes. Our lives depend on it.

    Dror Eydar has been appointed Israeli ambassador to Italy.

  6. In an interview with Arutz Sheva, Israel’s minister of tourism Yariv Levin gave this analysis of Gantz’s speech and what he was really saying between the lines:

    “When we use this expression of Tzipi Livni, ‘we will preserve the settlement blocs’, we say in effect that we will carry out a second ‘mega disengagement’ with the expulsion of tens of thousands of Jews from their homes, with the demolition of dozens of communities. I am convinced that the public will understand this and eventually vote for the right at the polling stations.”

  7. @ adamdalgliesh:Saar is potentially okay from what I know of him and about him but will Bibi step aside or take the Likud down with him? I think he will be indicted and frankly who wants a PM spending all his time saving his ass. Not the best thing for the country.

    By the way – just read this

    Gantz and Lapid in talks to unite, decision ‘within 2 weeks,’ says Yesh Atid MK

    Also Likud is weighing uniting with the New Right & also maybe Lieberman’s party. Would Bennett then be the #2 in the joint party and not Saar. Likud is supposed to have a primary to see who would be seated for it in what order. That would determine if Saar is the Likud #2 aside for party unification deals. Internal polls have said if they unite at least with New Right they would get more seats. Do not know about polling with Lieberman.

  8. @ Bear Klein: He is an offside chance, but maybe Gideon Saar could replace Bibi as Likud leader if he is indicted. Saar at least has articulated a program of getting tough with Israel’s enemies, and has vowed not to withdraw from any territory if he becomes Prime Minister. However, even if he secures the support of the Likud central committee if Bibi is forced to resign, he still would be at a disadvantage in the election against Gantz, an ex-general. Israelis seem in love with candidates with a bit of brass on the shoulders and shirt pocket. Saar was never a high-ranking officer in the iDF. I don’t know what his military record, if any is.

  9. The Jerusalem Post is running really hard for Benny Gantz and and running really hard against Netanyahu. They have published one puff piece after another about Gantz, with not a word of criticism. Not a word about his support for unilateral withdrawal. Not a word about his corruption. They proclaim him as “an officer and a gentlemen.” Every article about Netanyahu referencing the campaign denounces him as corrupt, a liar, arrogant, can’t get along with anyone. In every issue that publish another article about how Mandelblit plans to indict Netanyahu. Why publish nearly identical stories about this in every issue? Can a story republished every single day with slight variations in language be considered “news?” Under its present editor Amotz Asa-el the JP has become a horrible leftist-appeasement rag.

  12. Sorry, Gantz 19, but the other two are 9. Gantz would need more than Lapid to win and Bibi has a coalition as well, including Bennet and Shaked’s new party. The left knows they have no hope electorally so that’s why the AG just announced he will issue indictment before election.

  18. Likud now has a danger because it needed to have a replacement for Bibi but he successfully drove out any legitimate successors to the top spot.

    I would like Bennett/Shaked to win but this does not look likely at all!

    Gantz is the flavor of the moment for the center and center/left. If he gets Lapid to join as a partner (#2) or Bibi gets indicted he may well get to be Prime Minister whether us on the right like it or not!

  19. Ganz was co-author of a report by the left think-tank Institute for National Security Studies, advocating unilateral Israeli withdrawal from 65 per cent of Judea-Samaria and the establishment of a Palestinian state there that would not be required to sign a peace agreement with Israel. I have bolded the relevant passage about him in this Wikapedia biography of Gantz,

    Benny Gantz
    Benjamin “Benny” Gantz (Hebrew: ?????? “???” ????; born 9 June 1959) is an Israeli politician and general, and was the 20th Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (14 February 2011 – 16 February 2015).[1][2] In December 2018, he established a new political party named Israel Resilience (Hosen LeYisrael).[3][4]

    Early life

    Gantz was born in Kfar Ahim, Israel, in 1959. His mother Malka was a Holocaust survivor, originally from Mez?kovácsháza, Hungary.[5][6] His father Nahum was from Romania, and was arrested by the British for trying to enter Palestine illegally before reaching Israel. His parents were among the founders of Kfar Ahim.[7] In his youth, he attended the Shafir High School in Merkaz Shapira and boarding school at the HaKfar HaYarok youth village in Ramat HaSharon.

    Military service

    Gantz was drafted into the IDF in 1977. He volunteered as a paratrooper in the Paratroopers Brigade. His first mission as a young conscript in 1977 was as part of the security detail for Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s visit to Israel.[8] In 1979 Gantz became an officer after completing Officer Candidate School. In 1991 he commanded the commando unit that was on the ground in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for 36 hours, securing the Operation Solomon airlift of 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel.[9] During his career, Gantz has served in a number of roles, including: Commander of the Shaldag Unit in the Israeli Air Force; Commander of the 35th Paratroopers Brigade;[10] Commander of the Reserves Division in the Northern Command; Commander of the Lebanon Liaison Unit; Commander of the Judea and Samaria Division in 2000, before becoming the Commander of the Israeli Northern Command in 2001; and as Israel’s military attaché in the United States from 2005 until 2009, before becoming the Deputy Chief of the General Staff.[11][12] He served in the 1978 South Lebanon conflict, 1982 Lebanon War, the 1985-2000 South Lebanon conflict, Operation Solomon, and the Second Intifada.

    Gantz has received a number of degrees during his military service. He is a graduate of the IDF Command and Headquarters College and the National Security College. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Tel Aviv University, a master’s degree in political science from the University of Haifa, and an additional Master’s Degree in National Resources Management from the National Defense University in the United States.[11]

    Chief of Staff

    Following the canceled appointment of previous nominee Aluf Yoav Galant, Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced on 5 February 2011 that he will be recommending to the government that Gantz be appointed the 20th Chief of the General Staff (after the pending approval by the Turkel Advisory Committee on Senior Appointments and a government vote).[13]

    On 13 February 2011, the Israeli government unanimously approved Gantz to be the next IDF chief of staff.[14] According to the Jerusalem Post, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated in the weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem that Gantz was an “excellent officer and experienced commander, and had rich operational and logistical experience, with all the attributes needed to be a successful army commander”.[15]

    On 14 February 2011, Gantz assumed command as the Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces.[2]

    In his first year as Chief of the General Staff, Gantz appointed the IDF’s first-ever female major-general, Orna Barbivai.[16][17]

    In July 2011, Gantz appointed a special committee to address a controversy that had developed concerning mention of the word Elohim, “God”, in the military Yizkor prayer. The committee determined that a disputed passage should read Yizkor ‘Am Yisrael, “May the Nation of Israel remember”, and not Yizkor Elohim, “May God remember”. Gantz upheld the committee’s ruling.[18]

    Gantz has called on the IDF to be ready for a new ground invasion of Gaza.[19][20]

    Gantz commanded the IDF when it fought against Palestinian factions in Gaza in the campaigns Operation Pillar of Defense[21] and Operation Protective Edge.

    Controversies

    Building on public land allegations

    A report in the Israeli daily Yisrael Hayom from March 2010 charged Gantz with illegally extending the perimeter of his yard by several feet to encompass a small plot of land that had been designated public property and subsequently building on it. “The Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Major General Benny Gantz, invaded a public land area adjacent to his home in Rosh HaAyin, illegally and without a permit and a license constructed a nice and wide deck on public land next to his house’s yard, enclosed it with a pretty wooden fence – and broke the law.” The report included photos of the alleged violations. Gantz admitted to the facts, but claimed that the public land in question was not, and could not be, accessible for use by the public. Two months after town hall officials notified him of the violation, the deck was disassembled and removed.[22]

    In February 2011, following the government’s decision to promote Gantz to Chief of the General Staff, Attorney Avi’ad Vissuli of the Forum for the Land of Israel submitted a formal objection to Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein and to Judge Ya’akov Turkel, demanding that the appointment be revoked. Vissuli compared the violations attributed to Gantz to the controversial property violations of Major General Yoav Galant.[23][24]

    Death of Corporal Madhat Yusuf

    On 1 October 2000, a group of armed Palestinians attacked Joseph’s Tomb in present-day Nablus, and a Palestinian sniper shot Corporal Madhat Yusuf, a Druze IDF soldier guarding the tomb. The Palestinian Authority agreed to evacuate Yusuf to safety, but their security forces failed to arrive, and Yusuf bled to death after four hours. Yusuf’s relatives have blamed Gantz, who was Commander of the Judea and Samaria Division at that time, for what they consider to have been a preventable tragedy. The Turkel Committee charged with reviewing Gantz’s qualifications vis-à-vis his planned appointment to Chief of the General Staff, determined that Gantz “was not the most senior ranking commander at the scene, and there were operational as well as political considerations involved in the incident for which he was not responsible”.[25][26][27]

    Tech company closure

    Benny Gantz had operated The Fifth Dimension as a Chief executive, a promising computer security and law enforcement technology company. The company closed due to financial reasons after its Russian investor was sanctioned by the United States during the Special Counsel investigation into Russian attempts to interfere with the US election.[28][29]

    Political views and career

    In December 2018, Gantz announced his intention to form a new political party, but did not originally disclose his views or name of the organization.[30] Polls have demonstrated fluctuating support for the party.[31][32] On 27 December 2018, Gantz formally established his own party named the Israel Resilience Party (“Hosen LeYisrael” in Hebrew), which will run in the 2019 Israeli legislative election.[33]

    On January 29, 2019, Gantz gave his first major political speech. Gantz pledged to strengthen Israeli settlement blocs and said that Israel would never leave the Golan Heights.[34] He neither endorsed nor rejected a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “The Jordan Valley will be our border, but we won’t let millions of Palestinians living beyond the fence to endanger our identity as a Jewish state,” he said.[35]

    Gantz had previously contributed to writing a unilateral separation plan for the Institute of National Security Studies which called for the unilateral creation of a contiguous Palestinian “entity” on about 65% of the West Bank and a freeze to construction in settlements outside the major settlement blocs that Israel expects to retain in a future peace agreement with the Palestinians.[36]

    At the end of his speech, Gantz announced an electoral alliance with former minister of defense and IDF chief of staff Moshe Ya’alon.[37]

    Family and personal life

    Gantz is married to Revital and is a father of four. He lives in Rosh HaAyin.[38]

    References

    ^ a b “Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz Appointed 20th IDF Chief of the General Staff”. Israel Defense Forces. 14 February 2011. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
    ^ a b Haaretz Service (14 February 2011). “Gantz takes over as IDF chief: I am ready to face the challenges”. Haaretz. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
    Moran Azulay (27 December 2018). “Benny Gantz registers new political party”. Ynetnews.
    Wootliff, Raoul. “Surrounded by idioms: How campaign slogans get lost in English translation”. http://www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
    Israel commemorates Holocaust Remembrance Day, Haaretz 8 April 2013
    In Auschwitz, Israeli army chief vows to prevent a ‘second Holocaust’, The Times of Israel 8 April 2013
    “??? ??????? ????? ??????? ??????? ????????”. ???? 7.
    Pfeffer, Anshel (2019-01-28). “The General Coming to End the Netanyahu Era”. Haaretz. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
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    Avihai Becker, Generally Sensitive, Haaretz, 24 April 2002.
    ^ a b “New Deputy Chief of the General Staff Appointed” (Press release). IDF Spokesperson’s Website. 12 July 2009. Archived from the original on 9 March 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
    “IDF chief announces new appointments to General Staff” from Haaretz[permanent dead link] Google cache version
    Greenberg, Hanan (5 February 2011). “Gantz set to be named 20th IDF chief”. Ynet. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
    Ravid, Barak (13 February 2011). “Benny Gatz becomes IDF’s 20th chief of staff”. Haaretz. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
    Keinon, Herb (13 February 2011). “Gantz appointment as IDF chief sails through cabinet”. Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
    “Newly Appointed Head of the Personnel Directorate, GOC Northern Command, GOC Home Front Command”. IDF Spokesperson’s Unit. 26 March 2011. Retrieved 1 June 2011. Brig. Gen. Orna Barbivay will be promoted to the rank of Major General and appointed Head of the Personnel Directorate, replacing Maj. Gen. Avi Zamir, who will end his service in the IDF.
    “Israeli military appoints first female major general”. Monsters and Critics. Tel Aviv. Deutsche Presse-Agentur. 26 May 2011. Archived from the original on 24 June 2011. Retrieved 1 June 2011. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has promoted the first female major general in its 63-year history, a military spokesman announced Thursday night.
    Katz, Yaakov (4 August 2011). “IDF panel keeps God out of Yizkor prayer”. Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 17 August 2011. The IDF will retain the original wording of the Yizkor memorial prayer with “Yizkor Am Yisrael” (May the People of Israel Remember), and not “Yizkor Elohim” (May God Remember), a military committee tasked with ruling on the issue announced on Thursday.
    “General Gantz at the 13th Herzliya Conference: Chances of War Breaking Out are Low but Probability of Deterioration is rising”. Defense Update. 11 March 2013.
    Sherwood, Harriet (28 December 2011). “Israel ‘will launch significant Gaza offensive sooner or later'”. The Guardian.
    Yossi Arazi and Gal Perl Finkel, Integrating Technologies to Protect the Home Front against Ballistic Threats and Cruise Missiles, “Military and Strategic Affairs”, Volume 5, No. 3, December 2013.
    Navon, Eran (5 March 2010). ??? ?????? – ????? [Liberated Land – Returned]. Yisrael Hayom (in Hebrew). Retrieved 7 February 2011.
    Sharvit, Noam (7 February 2011). ????? ?????: ???? ????? ??? ??? ?????? ????? [Petition to the Attorney General: Revoke Gantz’s Appointment in Light of Building Violations] (in Hebrew). NRG (Ma’ariv). Retrieved 7 February 2011.
    Tzuk, Dana (7 February 2011). ???? ???? ?”? ??? ????? ??? [The Forum for the Land of Israel V. Major General Gantz] (in Hebrew). GLZ (Army Radio). Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 7 February 2011.
    Ravid, Barak (10 February 2011). ???? ????? ????? ?? ????? ??? ????? “????? ????????” [Turkel Committee Approves Gantz Appointment Despite Flaws in Conduct]. Haaretz (in Hebrew). Retrieved 10 February 2011.
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    “Brother of Slain Druze Soldier: Gantz Not Worthy to Run Israel | Hamodia.com”. Hamodia. 2019-01-14. Retrieved 2019-01-18.
    Hoffman, Gil. (16 December 2018). “Did Stormy Daniels cause Benny Gantz’s Cyber Company to close shop?” Jerusalem Post website Retrieved 16 December 2018.
    “Israeli Startup Headed by Ex-top Security Officials Shuts Due to Link With Sanctioned Oligarch”. Haaretz. 2018-12-17. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
    Asa-El, Amotz. (22 December 2018). “The other Benjamin-Will Israeli politics be saved by one-more general?”. Jerusalem Post website Retrieved 23 December 2018.
    Mualem, Mazal. (21 November 2018). “Former IDF head spooks Israel’s entire political spectrum”. Al-Monitor website Retrieved 23 December 2018.
    Hoffman, Gil. (25 December 2018). “Poll finds Gantz’s political party in free fall.” Jerusalem Post website Retrieved 27 December 2018.
    “Former IDF chief names new party: ‘Israel’s Resilience'”. WIN. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
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