Benny Gantz

Benny Gantz was born in 1959 in Kfar Ahim

Gantz was born on 9 June 1959 in Kfar Ahim, a moshav his parents helped found. Both parents were Holocaust survivors from Hungary and Romania. He was an only child.

He studied at Shafir school and at the HaKfar HaYarok boarding school in Ramat HaSharon. He holds a bachelor's degree in history from Tel Aviv University and a master's in political science from the University of Haifa. He earned a second master's degree at the National Defense University in the United States.

Gantz joined the IDF in 1977 as a paratrooper and rose through command posts, including the Shaldag Unit, the Paratroopers Brigade and the Northern Command. He was military attaché in the United States and then deputy chief of staff. In 2011 he became chief of staff and led the army in Operation Pillar of Defense and Operation Protective Edge.

In December 2018 he founded the Israel Resilience party, which later joined others to form Blue and White. He was speaker of the Knesset in 2020 and then alternate prime minister and minister of defense. From 2021 to 2022 he was defense minister and deputy prime minister.

In 2022 he became leader of National Unity. After the Gaza war broke out in October 2023, he joined the government as a minister without portfolio in the war cabinet. He left the war cabinet in June 2024.