MK Eitan Ginzburg announced on Tuesday that he will leave the Blue and White party, led by MK Benny Gantz, to find another political framework ahead of the upcoming elections, becoming the second lawmaker to exit the faction this week.
The departure also comes as the Blue and White party has failed to clear the electoral threshold in recent polls.
Announcing his departure, Ginzburg said that Blue and White could no longer create change in the country and “there is no other choice," but to leave.
“Unfortunately, the ability of the current political framework to continue driving the necessary change in the state has diminished,” Ginzburg wrote in an X/Twitter post.
“At this time, the moment has come to move forward and find a framework in which I can continue contributing my abilities in the best possible way,” Ginzburg added.
Gantz had set an ultimatum for Ginzburg to announce his political future by noon, according to Blue and White.
The party added that Gantz summoned Ginzburg for a conversation on Tuesday morning after receiving information that he had been in contact with other parties amid concerns about his political and financial future.
Benny Gantz's Blue and White loses members ahead of elections
MK Chili Tropper announced on Sunday that he will leave the party to determine his next steps in finding a new framework ahead of the upcoming elections.
Tropper will reportedly consider joining forces with either Eisenkot or former prime minister Naftali Bennett’s Together party, which merged last week with opposition leader Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid.
Former ministers Matan Kahana and Orit Farkash-Hacohen both joined Yashar! after leaving Gantz’s party.
Eisenkot said that he has not been in touch with Ginzburg about joining Yashar! when answering a press question on Tuesday evening during a press conference. The Yashar! leader added that anyone coming out near the electoral threshold in polls should either merge with another party or quit so as not to waste votes in the opposition bloc.
MK Michael Biton, a member of Blue and White, said that the party was considering alliances and promised to “act responsibly” and not lose mandates in a Tuesday Army radio interview.
Despite the departures, Gantz has repeatedly asserted that he has no intention of resigning. “I will continue. I think I will grow stronger,” Gantz said in a Tuesday Kan Reshet Bet interview.
When asked about sitting in a government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Gantz said, “The voter will decide. You can’t say that unity is important and then condition it on a million things.”
Blue and White has been distanced from the opposition bloc seeking to replace Netanyahu in the upcoming elections. Gantz’s statements indicate that he would not object to teaming up with Netanyahu and has repeatedly called for a “broad Zionist government.”
Although the Blue and White Party is in the opposition, Gantz has served in two unity governments under Netanyahu and been criticized for a back-and-forth approach.