Former Israeli army chief Gadi Eisenkot announced on Sunday that he is joining Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s political party ahead of the upcoming elections in November.
Gantz and Sa’ar merged their factions – centrist Blue and White and right-wing New Hope – earlier in July. The new party will be called the National Unity. While Gantz would sit at the head of the joint list, followed by Sa’ar, Lieutenant General Eisenkot is expected to take the third place.
This new union “will form the basis for the establishment of a broad and stable state government that will end the ongoing political crisis and the division between the different parts of Israeli society,” Eisenkot announced in a press release.
It will also aim to “promote the national interests of the State of Israel in the fields of security, economy, internal security and education,” he stressed.
Israel’s Religious Minister Matan Kahana is also reported to join the alliance two weeks before the deadline for registering a new party to participate in the general elections scheduled for November 1. Israelis will head to the polls for the fifth time in less than four years with surveys showing that neither bloc of the existing parliament is capable of gaining the majority of seats necessary to form a coalition government. -24 News
