Who will be Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultimate challenger in the next elections? This is not a theoretical question. Israelis could find themselves at the ballot boxes later this year, for the fourth time in 18 months. Netanyahu has been plunging in the polls, with his Likud party losing more than 10 Knesset seats in recent weeks. The latest results indicate that the right-wing bloc of parties and the center-left bloc are back to the tie of the past three elections. Nonetheless, so far, no arrowhead, no anti-Netanyahu alternative has emerged to challenge him.
Over the past year and a half, it was Defense Minister and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz who positioned himself as Netanyahu’s main adversary. But these shoes filled by Gantz, the somewhat limping Netanyahu challenger who led his party through three inconclusive elections, are now empty. With the party splitting over the unity deal with Netanyahu and with the disappointment of followers, his party has few Knesset seats left — both in reality and in the polls.