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Eisenkot Leads Polls as Netanyahu's Top Challenger
· Confirmed
In Short: Former Israeli military chief Gadi Eisenkot leads polls as the top challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Former Israeli military chief Gadi Eisenkot is leading polls as the top challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to multiple sources including Fox News and The Guardian.
Eisenkot's centrist political party, Yashar, is ahead of Netanyahu's Likud in some polls and tied in others, with Yashar currently level with Likud at 22 seats in an average of all mainstream polls.
Eisenkot's military background and leadership during the Gaza war have garnered him significant support, with respected journalist Yossi Melman telling Fox News that Eisenkot is '100% a soldier, very brave and humble.'
However, Eisenkot faces a significant challenge in forming a coalition. The Arab Center Washington DC reports that Netanyahu’s coalition, consisting of Likud and ultra-Orthodox and far-right parties, holds around 52 seats, with no partners willing to help close the gap.
Eisenkot needs support from Arab parties to reach a majority, but 70 percent of Jewish Israelis oppose the inclusion of an Arab party in the government, making coalition formation difficult.
Netanyahu's campaign has targeted so-called soft-right voters with an AI-generated video showing Eisenkot running toward a young man resembling his son Gal, who was killed in the Gaza war.
Eisenkot's supporters see him as a leader who will take action, with one supporter telling The Guardian, 'We need someone who will do the doing part.'
Eisenkot's platform includes removing far-right politician Itamar Ben Gvir from power, confronting Jewish extremist violence in the West Bank, and repairing Israel's international legitimacy.
The upcoming election on October 27, 2026, is considered one of the most consequential in Israel's history, with Eisenkot positioned as the main challenger to Netanyahu's long-standing leadership.
What's confirmed
- Former Israeli military chief Gadi Eisenkot is leading polls as the top challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to multiple sources including Fox News and The Guardian.
- Eisenkot's centrist political party, Yashar, is ahead of Netanyahu's Likud in some polls and tied in others, with Yashar currently level with Likud at 22 seats in an average of all mainstream polls.
- However, Eisenkot faces a significant challenge in forming a coalition. The Arab Center Washington DC reports that Netanyahu’s coalition, consisting of Likud and ultra-Orthodox and far-right parties, holds around 52 seats, with no partners willing to help close the gap.
- Eisenkot needs support from Arab parties to reach a majority, but 70 percent of Jewish Israelis oppose the inclusion of an Arab party in the government, making coalition formation difficult.
- Netanyahu's campaign has targeted so-called soft-right voters with an AI-generated video showing Eisenkot running toward a young man resembling his son Gal, who was killed in the Gaza war.
- Eisenkot's platform includes removing far-right politician Itamar Ben Gvir from power, confronting Jewish extremist violence in the West Bank, and repairing Israel's international legitimacy.
- The upcoming election on October 27, 2026, is considered one of the most consequential in Israel's history, with Eisenkot positioned as the main challenger to Netanyahu's long-standing leadership.
What's still developing
- Now that the bans have been lifted, Eisenkot faces an even more intractable dilemma : he needs these seats to reach a majority, but relying on them would risk alienating centrist and right-wing voters.
- "I think his military record and his prospects as a national leader have both significant strengths and serious weaknesses. He bears considerable responsibility for shaping the IDF that existed on Oct. 7, 2023. And that was, paradoxically, both the army that proved capable of defeating Hezbollah, striking Iran and achieving unprecedented military successes in the extraordinarily difficult, tunnel-ridden battlefield of Gaza and the army that failed so miserably on Oct. 7."
- After Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 and slaughtered over 1,200 people, including more than 40 Americans, Eisenkot joined Netanyahu’s war cabinet as a minister without portfolio.
- Orbach noted that "I don't think most of Eisenkot's support stems from his energy, enthusiasm or even his political platform. My impression is that Eisenkot has emerged as the default ‘non-Bibi’ candidate, the politician who currently channels much of the camp's hopes and expectations."
- "I also doubt that Eisenkot would have had the political determination to stand up to the Biden administration on such matters."
- Melman noted that when Eisenkot was chosen to be the next IDF chief of staff, he declined because he felt that then General Benny Gantz should receive the appointment.
- When Eisenkot calls for “a country without lies”, when he calls for “responsibility and leading by example”, when he suggests US-style term limits for the role of prime minister, “because power corrupts”, everyone knows what – and who – he means.
- “I think that’s an advantage,” Noa Sadeh, 56, told me after Wednesday night’s rally.
- It is the man Eisenkot seeks to replace as prime minister, the man who first served in that role three decades ago and who has held it, on and off, for 19 of the past 30 years.
- But the lack of charisma serves only to emphasise that Eisenkot is every inch the un-Bibi.
- In June 2021, Ra’am made history by becoming the first Arab party in Israeli history to join a governing coalition, the so-called “Government of Change” co-led by Bennett and Lapid.
- Trump gave Netanyahu his “complete and total endorsement” on Sunday and said anyone else would be a “wrong leader”.