Benjamin “Benny” Gantz is a former Israeli military chief who believes he can unseat long-serving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the general election on 9 April.
The 51-year-old retired lieutenant-general is a newcomer to politics who formed the centrist Blue and White alliance in February, promising to unite a country that had “lost its way”.
Mr Gantz was born in 1959 in Kfar Ahim, a co-operative farmers' village in central israel founded by immigrants. His father and mother, Nahum and Malka, were survivors of the Holocaust.
As a youth, Mr Gantz attended a boarding school in a youth village near Tel Aviv.
After finishing there in 1977, he enlisted in the israel Defense Forces (IDF) and joined the Paratroopers Brigade. His first assignment was to help provide security for Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's historic visit to Israel.
Last soldier in Lebanon
Two years later, he graduated from the IDF officer school and was made a company commander in the Paratrooper Brigade. From then on, he rose steadily through the ranks.
He has played key roles in significant military campaigns, including in May 1991 when he led the Israel Air Force's elite commando unit in the operation that saw thousands of Ethiopian Jews airlifted to Israel in only 36 hours.
