Former Army Chief Challenges Netanyahu as Israeli Election Approaches

Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief leading the new Yashar party, surged ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in opinion polls ahead of Israel's parliamentary elections scheduled for Tuesday.

Opinion polls showed the year-old centrist party projected to win 20 of the 120 seats in parliament, placing it ahead of Mr. Netanyahu’s governing Likud party.

The election presents voters with a military veteran who promises to end long conflicts and remove Hamas from power in Gaza, while maintaining a firm stance against creating a Palestinian state.

"I think the most serious problem is this ‘us and them’ mentality," said Gadi Eisenkot, the leader of Yashar, accusing Mr. Netanyahu of dividing the Israeli public during the campaign.

Mr. Eisenkot served in the Israeli military for 41 years and held the post of chief of staff from 2015 to 2019 before entering politics in August 2022.

The 66-year-old leader lost his 25-year-old son and two nephews while they were fighting in the Gaza war, shaping his personal appeal to voters tired of prolonged conflict.

He joined Mr. Netanyahu’s war cabinet shortly after the October 7 attack in 2023 but resigned eight months later, in June 2024, citing a lack of clear strategy.

He told i24NEWS that Mr. Netanyahu "has learned nothing from October 7" and called for leaders who held power during the attack to step down.

Recalling the early days of the war, Mr. Eisenkot said Mr. Netanyahu told him, "You saved us yesterday," after he urged the prime minister to delay an attack in the north.

Mr. Eisenkot has promised to dismantle the military and governing capabilities of Hamas within 18 months if he becomes prime minister.

On Iran, he supported targeting its nuclear and missile programs, though he rejected making regime change an explicit military goal.

Despite offering a political alternative to Mr. Netanyahu, Mr. Eisenkot maintains conservative security policies, including opposition to Palestinian statehood and support for legal Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

He has criticized violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and rejected political alliances with Arab Israeli parties, which could complicate his path to forming a coalition government.

If Mr. Eisenkot wins, he would become the first prime minister of Mizrahi descent, though forming a stable governing coalition will require support from rival political parties.