Israel’s former armed forces chief Benny Gantz, who agreed Monday to form an emergency government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is widely seen as defined more by pragmatism and opposition to the right-wing premier than concrete policies. Within months, his centrist Blue and White party shocked Israeli politics by matching Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud in polls last April and then edging slightly ahead of it in September. After the vote, anti-Netanyahu forces, despite their deep divisions, unanimously rallied behind Gantz and recommended him to form a government.
