TEL AVIV—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the leading opposition candidate, Gadi Eisenkot, couldn’t be more different in terms of style, background and a host of issues that matter to Israeli voters.
Analysts say the lifelong military man whose youngest son died fighting in Gaza understands the limits and costs of military force. Still, he pushes tough positions. He has said he would end Hamas’s rule in Gaza within 18 months—whether through President Trump’s peace plan or by force—and told Israeli radio earlier in the month that he supported building settlements in the West Bank, though he says he would crack down on settler violence and opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu’s opponents “are basically saying the same thing in a more elegant way,” said Tamar Hermann, a pollster and senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute think tank in Jerusalem. “Their security agenda, except for the West Bank, is not substantially different from that of the right.”
The prime minister’s detractors say he has undermined democratic institutions, brought extremists into his government, prolonged wars for political gain and sacrificed Israel’s standing abroad amid an upswell of anger about Israel’s conduct in the Gaza war. The prime minister’s office didn’t respond to requests for comment. Even after the men became political adversaries, Eisenkot agreed to join Netanyahu in an emergency national unity government after Oct. He resigned months later, accusing Netanyahu of prolonging the war and sacrificing Israel’s hostages, which the prime minister denies. Polls show that far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has implemented much tougher conditions for Palestinian prisoners, is especially popular among Israeli youth.
An October poll by Agam Labs showed 60% of Jewish Israelis want a new prime minister. It was Netanyahu who tapped Eisenkot as the military chief of staff in 2014. 7 and sat on the war cabinet.
Nearly a third of Jewish Israelis say they have become more right-wing as a result of the war, according to the poll by Agam Labs.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said he fights unapologetically for Israel. “Just changing the government, just changing the people in the government, it’s not going to be enough, we need to change policies,” said Offir Gutelzon, 51, an Israeli tech entrepreneur in Palo Alto, Calif., who is flying back to Israel to vote against Netanyahu. “But, obviously, the start is to get someone new holding the wheels on the train called Israel.”
