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Lt.-Gen. (res.) Benjamin (Benny) Gantz was born in 1959 and recruited to the IDF in 1977 when he joined the Paratroopers Brigade. In 1979, he graduated from the IDF officer school and was positioned as company commander and later Platoon commander in the Paratrooper Brigade.
In 1989 he was appointed commander of the Shaldag Unit in the Israel Air force. In 1994 he was appointed commander of the Judea Brigade in the Judea and Samaria Division.
In 1997 Gantz left for an academic break in the United States. In 1999 he was appointed as commander of the Liaison Unit with Lebanon. In 2000 he was appointed as commander of the Judea and Samaria division.
In 2002 he was appointed as commander of the IDF Northern Command. In 2005 he was appointed as commander of the IDF Ground Forces Command. From 2007- 2009 he served as the IDF Military Attaché in the United States.
In 2009 he was asked by the Minister of Defense and the Chief of the General staff to serve as the Deputy IDF Chief of General Staff, a position he filled until November 2010. During this period, Gantz implemented the Tefen multi-year plan in addition to leading other processes in the reserve forces, human resources, the IDF budget and numerous others.
Gantz is a graduate of the Command and Staff College and the National Security College, has a Bachelors degree in history from the Tel Aviv University, a masters degree in Political Science from the Haifa University and another Masters Degree in management of national resources from the NDU university in the United States.
In February 2011, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz was appointed to serve as the 20th Chief of the General Staff of the IDF, a position he held until February 2015.
In December 2018 Gantz established his own party, which he named the Israel Resilience Party, to run in the 2019 general elections. In January 2019, he announced an electoral alliance with former minister of defense and IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon and his Telem Party. In February the two parties merged with Yesh Atid and created a united list known as the Blue and White Party. Gantz was elected to the 21st Knesset in April 2019 as head of the Blue and White Party.
He is married and is a father of four.
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