Israeli ex-general joins 2019 election race

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Respected Israeli former military chief of staff Benny Gantz on Thursday launched Israel Resilience Party ahead of the April election.

Written on its registration documents, the newly founded party aims at "strengthening the Jewish and democratic character of the state of Israel."

The surveys, published after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the snap election on December 24, gave second place to Gantz's center-left party, suggesting his new group could claim 15 of the total 120 seats, next to Netanyahu's rightist Likud party, which is expected to take 30 seats in the parliament.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu delivers a statement at the Israeli Parliament, December 19, 2018. /VCG Photo

Netanyahu is running for a fifth term under the shadow of three corruption investigations in which police have recommended his indictment. He has denied any wrongdoing. Israel's attorney-general has still to decide whether to charge Netanyahu and it is unclear whether he will make his announcement before the election.

Benny Gantz, 59, became Israel's top general in 2011 after stints as commander of forces on the combustible northern frontier with Syria and Lebanon and as military attache in Washington. During his four-year term he oversaw two wars in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Shortly before Gantz's joining of the race, another former military chief Moshe Yaalon, who served as Netanyahu's defense minister from 2013 to 2016, unveiled his own party on Wednesday. Considering the two candidates' profile, a joint-force for the election on a center-right ticket is possible.

In response to the bid by the Palestinians for full membership in the United Nations, a move that would confer international recognition of Palestinian statehood, Israel's UN ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement that Israel has vowed to work with the United States at Security Council to block the initiative.

Security Council is tentatively scheduled to hold its monthly meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on January 22.

Israel and the U.S. are long-time allies on Israeli-Palestinian issues. The U.S. voted against the international recognition of Palestine. The view has hardened under President Donald Trump's administration, which has cut off aid to the Palestinians and recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital, overriding Palestinian claims to East Jerusalem.

Netanyahu will meet with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on the New Year's Day inauguration of president-elect Jair Bolsonaro, who has vowed to move Brazil closer to Israel and Trump.

(Front photo: File photo of Israeli former military chief of staff Benny Gantz /VCG Photo)

Source(s): AFP ,Reuters