After Eisenkot, Kahana also considering leaving Gantz’s National Unity party – report

1 July 2025, 8:09 am

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Then-Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana speaks during a Conference of the 'Besheva' group in Jerusalem, on August 1, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Following the announcement that MK Gadi Eisenkot, National Unity’s No. 2, will leave the party, a second member may leave the centrist faction, the Kan public broadcaster reports.

According to the outlet MK Matan Kahana may leave Benny Gantz’s party. Kahane is a close associate of former prime minister Naftali Bennett and entered politics on his slate.

“When I have something to announce, I will announce it,” Kahana tells Kan.

Kan reported last year that Kahana had held a meeting with Bennett to discuss the latter’s return to politics.

In a shakeup within the opposition, Eisenkot announced yesterday his imminent departure from the faction and from the Knesset, with the apparent intention of finding a new political home ahead of the next national election.

An Israeli Democracy Institute poll released in February showed that National Unity experienced a clear downward trend over the course of the past year, going from a 70 percent repeat voter share in April to 34% in December.

Opinion polls have consistently indicated mounting support for Eisenkot to replace Gantz at the helm of the faction, finding that following Bennett’s return to politics, the party would receive several more seats with Eisenkot in charge than with Gantz.