Retired Israeli army officers have rejected the role of supervising the annexation of large swathes of the occupied West Bank. The job was offered by Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz to major generals Roni Numa, Avi Mizrahi, and Yaacov Ayish.
Sources close to Gantz revealed that the officials are prominent figures in the Israeli community but they took a strict decision to steer away from politics.
It is well known that Gantz has formed the Blue and White party at the beginning of last year, and the party's top priority was to thwart the rule of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Through three elections, Gantz managed to become a strong competitor who defied the right-wing expansion and almost garnered an equal number of seats to that of Netanyahu. However, his failure to form a government and then joining Netanyahu's government influenced his popularity.
On the contrary, Netanyahu’s popularity is continuously mounting.
Last month surveys revealed that in case of elections Netanyahu would win and form a government consisting of the right-wing only. A survey conducted by the Direct Polls Institute showed that if Knesset elections were held today, the Likud would remain on top with 41 seats.
The Joint Arab List would end up with 16 seats, becoming the second-largest faction in Israel's government. Yesh Atid-Telem would get 15 seats, and Blue and White would finish with just 11. Shas would get 10 seats, Yisrael Beytenu would remain at eight, Yamina led by Naftali Bennett, would move up to seven, and United Torah Judaism would get seven. Meanwhile, Meretz would be left with five.
