Former Israeli armed forces chief Benny Gantz formally established a political party on Thursday ahead of running for office in next year’s April elections.
According to opinion polls, Gantz poses the toughest challenge to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bid for reelection.
Details about Gantz's Israel Resilience Party, leaked to local media after it was registered, gave little indication of its ideological tilt. Along with preserving Israel as "a Jewish and democratic country", the party pledged unspecified changes to priorities in national security and the economy.
Polling has predicted an easy win for Netanyahu in the April 9 election, with his rightist Likud party taking around 30 of parliament's 120 seats and on course to form a right-wing coalition government similar to the current cabinet.
The surveys, published after Netanyahu announced on Monday an election some seven months before one was due by law, gave second place to a then-hypothetical Gantz party. The polls forecast it would take around 15 seats.
A second-place finish would position Gantz for either a top cabinet post in a Netanyahu government or to be a high-profile opposition leader.
Though he has yet to lay out his worldview or political platform, he flaunts stellar military credentials - a must in security-centric Israel - and a squeaky-clean image to contrast Netanyahu's corruption-laden reputation.
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.
Should Gantz emerge as a center-left candidate, that could work in Netanyahu's favor by further fracturing an already disparate opposition bloc.
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.
Like most retired security officials, Gantz is believed to hold moderate positions toward the Palestinians, which would set him apart from Netanyahu, who has largely ignored the issue while focusing on Iran's influence in the region. But Gantz has been cagey about voicing his opinions, wary of alienating conservative voters crucial for a political upheaval.
Since his discharge, he has been aggressively courted by several Israeli political parties, but ultimately decided to go it alone for now as the leader of his own party.
Despite his impressive pedigree, Gantz remains a political unknown, which explains part of his appeal in such a highly partisan climate.
"There seems to be about 20 percent of the public that is fed up with what's out there. He appeals to those who don't want Netanyahu but can't bring themselves to vote for the others either," said Reuven Hazan, a political science professor at Jerusalem's Hebrew University according to The Associated Press. "He's the flavor of the election."
