Blue and White leader Benny Gantz and former Fire and Rescue Commissioner Dedi Simchi are expected to announce in the coming days that they will run jointly in the upcoming election, according to a Wednesday evening report on Kan News. The announcement could come as soon as Thursday, but the two are still waiting for responses from additional political figures.
In response, Simchi’s camp said, "I work without boycotts and without exclusions, but there is still nothing to announce." Blue and White said, "Gantz is speaking with all political leaders. Boycotts must be brought to an end."
Last month, at a "Shabat Tarbut" event hosted by Liat Regev, Simchi said he would run in the next Knesset election. He said then, "Let’s take this country to where it needs to go," and added, "I say we need to put order back into the country, and I am someone with credentials in making order."
Simchi’s last role in the IDF was as head of the Home Front Command headquarters, and later he served as Fire and Rescue Commissioner. His son, Guy, who served in the Paratroopers Reconnaissance Unit, was killed in the fighting on October 7. Simchi later recovered his son’s body from Kibbutz Reim in the Gaza border area. A Kan News poll published Monday showed Yesh! led by Gadi Eisenkot, Gantz’s former partner, gaining four seats and widening its lead over Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid’s Yachad party, while Likud lost one seat compared with the previous poll.
