From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, September 8, 2026
Gantz recruits reservist and former Lapid adviser to depleted Blue and White slate
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleAriela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.
Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz announces that reservist Roy Kunkol is joining his party’s slate for the upcoming election, as Gantz seeks to rebuild a roster depleted by a string of recent departures.
Kunkol previously served as a spokesman and adviser to Yair Lapid, including during his tenures as opposition leader and prime minister. Earlier this year, he joined former minister Yoaz Hendel’s Reservists party, but quit in July following its merger with former Blue and White MK Chili Tropper (Tropper has since jumped ship to join Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar).
“I am joining Blue and White under Benny Gantz not because it is the easy choice, but because it is the right choice,” Kunkol says, arguing that Israel needs “a broad Zionist government” to confront the challenges facing the country.
His recruitment comes a day after former Beit Shemesh mayor Aliza Bloch joined Blue and White as well. Bloch had only last month joined the Unity party founded by Gilad Erdan and Yuli Edelstein, which abandoned its election bid last week amid poor polling.
Gantz has been scrambling to rebuild Blue and White ahead of the election after several prominent figures left the party, including Tropper. Of its incumbent lawmakers, Pnina Tamano-Shata is expected to remain, while Alon Schuster has yet to publicly decide whether he will run with the party again.
Blue and White has struggled in most polls to clear the electoral threshold.
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