Ex-IDF chief and Bennett ally leave the Knesset as Gantz’s party sinks in polls

Two MKs from the centrist National Unity party announce their plans to leave the faction and resign from the Knesset. Rumor has it that both seek to challenge their former party as it flounders in the polls.

By World Israel News Staff

In a major blow to former defense minister Benny Gantz, two prominent opposition MKs announced plans to bolt his party and leave the Knesset.

Former IDF Chief of Staff MK Gadi Eisenkot announced Monday evening that he was leaving the National Unity party and resigning from the Knesset, citing differences of opinion with Gantz, the party’s chairman.

“Member of Knesset Lt.-Gen. (res.) Gadi Eisenkot informed National Unity party chairman Benny Gantz of his intention to leave the party and return his mandate to it,” a National Unity spokesperson said.

“The two emphasized their longstanding friendship and mutual respect and stated that they will continue to collaborate toward shared goals and for the benefit of the people of Israel in the future as well.”

It is widely believed that Eisenkot intends to return to the Knesset in the next election cycle. He reportedly met recently with Opposition Leader Yair Lapid to discuss the possibility of joining Lapid’s Yesh Atid faction.

MK Matan Kahana, a colonel in the IDF reserves who served as a fighter pilot in the Israel Air Force, announced Tuesday that he too will be resigning from the party and the Knesset.

A former member of the defunct Yamina party, Kahana is considered an ally of former premier Naftali Bennett, who has registered a new party ahead of the next Knesset election, slated tentatively for fall 2026.

Israeli media outlets reported that Kahana’s announcement came after a secret meeting with Bennett, during which the two discussed Kahana’s possible inclusion in the new party.

The resignations are the latest blows to Gantz’s beleaguered National Unity party, which has seen its polling numbers plummet over the past year.

Running in the 2022 election on a joint list with the center-right New Hope party, National Unity received eight seats – compared to four for New Hope. For much of 2023, the united list polled in the 20s to 40s.

After the two parties split last year, however, both suffered in the polls, with New Hope falling below the 3.25% electoral threshold.

Since June last year, National Unity has also steadily declined, losing voters to the newly formed The Democrats party to its left and Yisrael Beytenu to its right.

Bennett’s bid to return to the Knesset further diminished the National Unity party in the polls, with the latest Direct Polls survey projecting the party winning just five seats, marginally above the four needed to cross the electoral threshold.