Blue and White ( Kaḥol Lavan) is a centrist and liberal political alliance in Israel. It was established by the Israel Resilience Party, Yesh Atid and Telem to run in the April 2019 Knesset election, in hopes of defeating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Blue and White defines itself as a pluralistic alliance representing all citizens on the political and religious spectrums. The phrase "blue and white" refers to the colors of the Israeli flag, and is colloquially used to describe something as being typically Israeli.
Following the March 2020 elections, Blue and White leader Benny Gantz was tasked with forming a new government after receiving endorsements from a majority of 61 MKs. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Gantz instead opted to put himself forward as interim Speaker of the Knesset while continuing negotiations to form a coalition government with Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud and other parties.
The effect was a break-up of the Blue and White alliance. The alliance split on 29 March 2020, with the Israel Resilience Party keeping the name Blue and White. Yesh Atid and Telem left the alliance and formed a separate faction in the Knesset. On 20 April, a coalition deal was signed with Likud, in which Netanyahu would serve first as prime minister, and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz would serve as prime minister starting October 2021, as well as giving the party ministerial portfolios such as defense ministers and foreign minister. However, this deal was never realized, because the Knesset collapsed in December 2020 after a major budget dispute, triggering new elections in March 2021. In the 2021 legislative election, Blue and White won eight seats and joined the government. After that coalition collapsed the following year, the party formed an alliance with the Gideon Sa'ar-led New Hope called National Unity, which was led by Gantz. The alliance won 12 seats.
History
On 21 February 2019, the last day for submitting election lists for the Knesset, Yesh Atid and Israel Resilience announced that they would form an alliance for the upcoming election. Gabi Ashkenazi, also a former chief of staff, would join the list in the fourth spot.
Blue and White won 35 seats in the April 2019 Israeli legislative election, the same as Likud, and conceded defeat. President Reuven Rivlin tasked Benjamin Netanyahu with forming a governing coalition, but failed. This triggered the September 2019 Israeli legislative election.
In the 2020 Israeli legislative election, Blue and White won 33 seats, placing it second after Likud which had 36. On 8 March 2020, Avigdor Lieberman gave Gantz his backing to form a new government. The next day, the Joint List agreed to work with Gantz and Lieberman to oust Netanyahu. As of 10 March 2020, it remained unclear whether Gantz would be able to gain sufficient MK votes to form a government, as Labor-Gesher-Meretz MK Orly Levy announced she would not support a minority government and left the Labor-Meretz alliance. Zvi Hauser and Yoaz Hendel (both Blue and White MKs) had also previously made known that they would not support a government with the Joint List's support. An aide also stated that Gantz plans to form a government by 23 March. Lieberman and Labor party leader Amir Peretz also reaffirmed on 11 March that an alliance with the Joint List would not change their position on forming a political alliance with Gantz. On 15 March 2020, 61 of the 120 MKs told Israeli President Reuven Rivlin that they would back Gantz as Israeli Prime Minister, which resulted in Rivlin announcing that he had asked Gantz to form the new government. On 26 March, one day after Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein resigned, Gantz instead agreed to become Speaker of the Knesset. The fact that right-wingers in Likud Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition agreed to support Gantz's bid to become Speaker put the future of the Blue and White alliance in jeopardy. The same day, MKs elected Gantz as the new Speaker of the Knesset by a margin of 74–18, with Yesh Atid, Labor and Yisrael Beytenu MKs boycotting the vote.