Benny Gantz and Ayelet Shaked are in talks to form their own center-right party ahead of the October 27 election, Channel 12 reports.
If the two do form a party, it will be at least the third new faction seeking to appeal to right-wing voters disaffected from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud. Former Likud ministers Yuli Edelstein and Gilad Erdan formed their own party last night, and a new party led by Yoaz Hendel and Chili Tropper is in the same political lane.
The B’Yachad party, Hebrew for “together,” led by former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, is also making a play for Likud voters.
The Gantz-Shaked party would be a political comeback bid for Shaked, a longtime former ally of Bennett in the right-wing Jewish Home party and other factions. She has served as justice and interior minister.
And it would be an attempt by Gantz, a former defense minister, to remain in office following months of polls showing the once-popular politician falling short of entering the Knesset.
According to the Channel 12 report, Gantz would lead the party in name, but Shaked would have first choice of ministries if the party joined a governing coalition.
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