The two rockets fired on the evening of March 14 from the Gaza Strip shook up Tel Aviv and its neighbors and veered the media coverage away from the troubles plaguing the Blue and White Party. An hour earlier, the Channel 12 news broadcast started with a dramatic report that Iran had hacked into the cellphone of the chairman of the party, Benny Gantz. Later an updated poll showed a continued trend of weakening for the party and a decline in the public’s view of Gantz’ suitability for prime minister compared with Netanyahu. The clear advantage to the right-wing bloc means that if the election were held today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be re-elected, though the Likud did weaken a bit with only 28 mandates. Gantz’ party is still the largest with 31.
The surprise rocket fire in the direction of Tel Aviv immediately changed the political agenda and did more than save Gantz and Blue and White from embarrassing media scrutiny. For the generals’ party, such a security event is an opportunity. While Netanyahu, in his additional role as defense minister, assembled a security discussion at military headquarters, the Blue and White Party announced their own security consultation, a shadow cabinet of sorts.
It all came at the end of a terrible week for Blue and White. March 10 polls in Yedioth Ahronoth and Haaretz showed a sharp decline in the number of mandates for the party while the Likud maintained stability. According to the polls, Blue and White have not managed to politically leverage the decision by the attorney general to indict Netanyahu. Gantz’ response was brief and ineffective. No internal information is needed to understand that something isn’t working in Blue and White’s campaign and that the initial momentum and excitement have worn off. For a new party that has existed for barely three weeks, a month before the election, that’s problematic.
Blue and White is an alliance of three parties: Gantz’ Israel Resilience, former Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon’s Telem Party and Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid. The effect was immediate and overwhelming. Blue and White took votes from the right and became the largest party with 37-38 mandates. It put the right-wing bloc in danger for the first time in the current election cycle.
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