Israeli FM Quits Gantz's Blue and White Party
Israel's Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said Wednesday that he is leaving the Blue and White party, in the latest high profile defection from the bloc led by Defense Minister Benny Gantz.
Gantz's centrist Blue and White ran neck-and-neck with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud in three inconclusive elections between April 2019 and March 2020.
But the party has fractured since Gantz agreed to form a coalition government with Netanyahu in April.
Ashkenazi, like Gantz a former army chief, had been Gantz's top ally in the coalition that collapsed last week after failing to pass a budget, amid bitter acrimony between Blue and White and Likud.
New elections have been set for March 23, Israel's fourth vote in just under two years.
Despite Blue and White's cratering poll numbers, Gantz announced Tuesday that he intended to lead the party in the upcoming vote, vowing to be player in the anti-Netanyahu bloc.
On Wednesday, Ashkenazi tweeted that he did "not intend to contest in the next election with Blue and White."
"I will take a break to consider the path ahead," he said.
Gantz in a statement said he respected Ashkenazi's decision and expressed his "heartfelt gratitude for these past two years of partnership for the good of our country."
A Blue and White spokesperson told AFP that Gantz had not asked Ashkenazi to resign from the foreign ministry.
That marks a departure compared to Gantz's response to the defection of outgoing justice minister Avi Nissenkorn.
Nissenkorn bolted from Blue and White to join a new centrist party formed by veteran Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai, called The Israelis.
Gantz asked Nissenkorn to resign from the justice ministry on Tuesday on grounds that Nissenkorn had "chosen his new political home."
Recent polls indicate Blue and White will win just handful of seats in the March vote.
But polls indicate that Netanyahu has also been hurt by defections, notably the decision by prominent right-winger Gideon Saar to break with Likud and form his own New Hope party.
Source: Agence France Presse
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