Anti-Netanyahu politics — this lies at the heart of Gadi Eisenkot’s campaign for the coming Israeli elections .
The strategy appears to be working, according to several opinion polls.
Netanyahu’s Likud. Mr. Eisenkot was born to Moroccan immigrants in Tiberias and spent most of his childhood in Eilat. With a working class background, he has portrayed himself as an everyday person to voters. If Mr. Eisenkot manages to win a parliamentary majority, he would be the first Mizrahi – Jews of West Asian or North African descent – to become the country’s Prime Minister. Netanyahu’s war cabinet. But Mr. Eisenkot’s campaign is not solely political. However, much of what the former army commander envisions comes with ousting Mr. Netanyahu. I think that is where the healing of the State of Israel will begin. I do not hate him, and I am not seeking personal revenge. I just think he failed. On Palestine and how to deal with Hamas, however, there is little difference between Mr. Eisenkot and his political rival. The electoral arithmetic remains one of his biggest obstacles, with neither bloc projected to secure a clear majority. He has shown little inclination to include Arab parties in a future coalition, preferring to work with more Zionist parties. Even if Yashar emerges as the largest party, Mr. Eisenkot would still struggle to secure the support of a majority of Knesset members to unseat Israel’s longest-serving Prime Minister.
With Israel set to go the polls on Tuesday (October 27, 2026), Mr. Eisenkot’s year-old centrist party, Yashar (Hebrew for Straight), is projected to win 20 of 120 seats in parliament, putting it ahead of Mr. The 66-year-old entered politics relatively late, joining Benny Gantz’s National Unity party in August 2022. Less than a week after the October 7 attack, he joined Mr. He quit eight months later, in June 2024, accusing the Prime Minister of lacking a clear strategy. Having lost his 25-year-old son and two of his nephews to Israel’s war in Gaza, he carries the appeal of a common person in Israel who personally suffered the consequences of the wars the government is entangled in. In contrast, he has promised a clear strategy for military operations and a commission of inquiry into the October 7 security failure. He has vowed to end Hamas’s rule in Gaza within 18 months of taking office, either by implementing U.S.
In an interview with The Times of Israel earlier this month, he said: “My goal is to defeat him [Netanyahu] outright in the election and bring about Netanyahu’s retirement from political life. President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan “from a position of strength” or through “creative operations” aimed at destroying Hamas’s military wing.
