Benny Gantz, Minister of Defense Blue and White Chairman

Lieutenant General (res.) Benjamin “Benny” Gantz is currently Minister of Defense, Alternate Prime Minister, and Chairman of the Blue and White party.

Lt. Gen. Gantz has had a distinguished military career that included all command echelons, from platoon leader to becoming the 20th Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces.

During his tenure, Lt. Gen. Gantz was responsible for ensuring the security of the State of Israel amidst the ever-changing realities brought about by the Arab Spring: shifting regional powers, civil war in Syria, the Iranian nuclear threat, and the rise of ISIS. In the context of a drastically changing Middle East, Gantz improved the IDF‘s future military capabilities on all geo-political fronts. In addition to supervising ongoing operational activities and covert Special Forces operations, he led the IDF through three major Israeli campaigns in Gaza, which threatened Israel on both the civilian and military fronts.

In January 2019, Gantz established the Israel Resilience Party, and is currently running in the upcoming elections as the Blue and White Party.

Gantz’s Blue and White platform includes introducing prime ministerial term limits, barring indicted politicians from serving in the Knesset, amending the nation-state law to include Israeli minorities, limiting the power of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel over marriages, investing in early education, expanding health care, and re-entering negotiations with the Palestinian Authority for a peace agreement.

Gantz and his wife Revital live in Rosh HaAyin and have four children.