Who Is Gadi Eisenkot, Israel’s Opposition Leader?

The clock started ticking on Sunday for Gadi Eisenkot, the leading rival of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, to form a new government.

After days of consultations, Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, presided over a ceremony that officially gave Mr. Eisenkot the mandate to forge a coalition after an inconclusive national election last month. “This is the time to reach out a hand, to do everything for the unity of our people,” Mr. Herzog said.

Mr. Eisenkot vowed to form a government “for all Israelis” and, in a nod to Israel’s fractured electoral landscape, said that it would take “creative and unconventional political steps.”

A soft-spoken former general, Mr. Eisenkot leads Yashar, a center-right party that campaigned on a promise of keeping Israel secure while pivoting away from policies that prompted international anger and led to Israel’s isolation on the world stage.

Mr. Eisenkot, 66, has up to six weeks to build a coalition before the president passes the opportunity to another candidate, most likely Mr. Netanyahu. Here’s what to know about the career general-turned-politician.

What is his background?

Mr. Eisenkot, a married father of five, was born in Tiberias, in the north, to Moroccan immigrants and was raised in Eilat, a working-class city in southern Israel.

He is relatively new to politics, having spent his career in the military, and has served only part of a single term as a lawmaker and eight months as a minister.

Mr. Eisenkot started out in the infantry and rose through the ranks to take command of Israel’s military operations in the West Bank in 2003, at the height of the Second Intifada. By 2015, he was serving as Israel’s top general — the military’s chief of staff — and held that role until early 2019, under Mr. Netanyahu.

He entered politics in 2022, and, after the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, served in Mr. Netanyahu’s war cabinet for part of the Gaza war. He lasted eight months, resigning in June 2024 over Mr. Netanyahu’s push for a “total victory” instead of a deal with Hamas to release the hostages.

Last year, Mr. Eisenkot formed a new party — Yashar, meaning “straight” or “honest” in Hebrew — which aimed to attract centrists and center-right voters worried about where Mr. Netanyahu’s coalition was leading Israel.

Mr. Eisenkot’s personal story also spoke to voters. One of his sons and two of his nephews were killed in the war in Gaza. He has said he hoped to be “worthy of the enormous price paid” by his son, “so that there could be a better reality here for our children.”

What would his policies look like?

Mr. Eisenkot has vowed to steer Israel toward what he considers normalcy after four turbulent years under Mr. Netanyahu’s hard-right government.

His platform in the election zeroed in on Mr. Netanyahu’s vulnerabilities, including by endorsing calls to investigate the security and intelligence failures that preceded the Oct. 7 attack. It also focused on Mr. Netanyahu’s contentious effort to weaken the Israeli judiciary.

They could join forces with the two Arab-led parties, but some right-wing Jewish parties in his bloc have said they would not enter a government that relied on their support. Mr. Eisenkot has also stipulated conditions that the Arab parties have yet to meet, such as publicly labeling Hamas as a terrorist organization.

Or, he could partner with members of Mr. Netanyahu’s coalition to form a unity government. One possibility would be to woo ultra-Orthodox parties, though some of his allies campaigned against the interests of those factions.

Last week, Mr. Eisenkot said he would work to establish a “national emergency government” to eject Mr. Netanyahu as soon as possible. That could mean a minority government reliant on the Arab parties’ support to prevent a no-confidence vote.

On Sunday, at the ceremony with Mr. Herzog, he noted that Israel’s political situation demands “compromises” — even if it meant breaking prior campaign promises.

“No one will be able to keep all of their commitments,” Mr. Eisenkot said, adding that he believed his political partners understood “the gravity of the hour.”