Gadi Eisenkot: How the former Israeli army chief could topple Netanyahu

A challenger shaped by war

Benjamin Netanyahu has held a dominant place in Israeli politics for much of the past three decades. The election is the first since the October 7 attacks and the subsequent war in Gaza, and Eisenkot has become a prominent opponent.

Eisenkot was serving as an observer in Netanyahu’s war cabinet in December 2023 when he learned his 25-year-old son, Master Sergeant Gal Meir Eisenkot, had been killed in northern Gaza. The following day, his nephew Sergeant Maor Cohen Eisenkot died in the enclave; a year later, another nephew, Captain Yogev Pazy, was killed.

Eisenkot and other opposition figures have accused Netanyahu of ignoring intelligence alerts before the attacks and mishandling the military campaign. The prime minister’s office has rejected those allegations as false.

Military career and family

He met Hannah at a high school sailing club in Eilat. They married in 1984, later settled in Herzliya and raised five children. Eisenkot studied history at Tel Aviv University and political science at the University of Haifa, then attended the US Army War College. He served in the Israeli military for 41 years.

Identity and political rise

Eisenkot’s background has drawn attention in a country that has never had a Mizrahi prime minister. Netanyahu, whose family is described as European and academic, released an attack ad mocking Eisenkot’s heavily accented English.

Eisenkot responded: “Where was Netanyahu’s excellent English on October 7? Did it help us in any way?” The ad prompted widespread revulsion, and voters from across the Mizrahi community rallied behind him. His move into electoral politics began in 2022, when he joined Netanyahu’s emergency war cabinet. He later founded the centrist party Yashar, a Hebrew word meaning “straight,” using a phrase attributed to former hostage Eli Sharabi: “It’s not right, it’s not left, it’s straight.”

Campaign and path to power

His campaign released a satirical video game, Sleepy Bibi, portraying Netanyahu sleepwalking past emergency alerts. After polling in single digits barely a year earlier, Eisenkot has risen to become the opposition’s consensus candidate, according to the article.

Israel Democracy Institute polling cited in the article found Eisenkot’s potential premiership had the broadest public acceptance. However, the president gives the mandate to form a government to the person judged most capable of securing 61 seats; if neither bloc can do so, another hung parliament may follow.