The unsurprising July 10 announcement of the merger between the Blue and White party of Defense Minister Benny Gantz and the New Hope party of Justice Minister Gideon Saar ahead of the Nov. 1 elections has not changed the balance of power between opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu and his opponents, but it does redraw the lines of the bitter battle being waged over the identity of the Jewish State.
The merger takes Gantz from head of a party with single-digit polling figures into a strong candidate for the country’s premiership.
