While he did not mention Netanyahu by name, he said there were \u201cthose\u201d who sow division and \u201cadvance steps that go against the national interest and are a slap in the face of the Israelis who work, serve and are willing to sacrifice their lives for this homeland\u201d \u2014 a reference to the government\u2019s attempts to pass legislation reinstating blanket military exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men and to cancel sanctions for draft evasion.<\/p>\n
This is a leadership for which the words \u2018accountability\u2019 and \u2018personal example\u2019 are foreign. It is a leadership that lies<\/p>\n
After Netanyahu said recently that he wants to form a \u201cbroad national unity government,\u201d Eisenkot said: \u201cThe leadership is using the term \u2018national unity\u2019 as a cynical election campaign. I will do everything to unify the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t \u201cThis is a leadership for which the words \u2018accountability\u2019 and \u2018personal example\u2019 are foreign. It is a leadership that lies. As if there is no other way besides the chaos in which we live, which fuels division as if it has no cost; whose only way of governing is to pull us apart,\u201d Eisenkot charged.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a duty to put an end to this madness\u2026 because the State of Israel doesn\u2019t have the privilege of getting it wrong again,\u201d he added. \u201cWe will replace a leadership devoid of any vision and strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWill we accept the continuation of social divisions and go full throttle toward the next disaster,\u201d he asked, \u201cor will we heal and rebuild?\u201d<\/p>\n Eisenkot promised to immediately form a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 Hamas-led massacres, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 were abducted to Gaza. Its conclusions would be used to \u201clearn from the past and prepare for the future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He also listed the rehabilitation of the north and south as one of his key goals, and vowed to \u201ccare for anyone physically or mentally harmed during the war.\u201d<\/p>\n \t As many reservists have complained of an immense burden after being forced to serve hundreds of days during the yearslong war amid a chronic shortage of manpower, Eisenkot introduced a plan that would cap reserve service at 50 days per year and \u201cgrow the ranks of the military to make it significantly easier for conscripts and reservists \u2014 without compromising on security.\u201d<\/p>\n Amid pressure from Naftali Bennett\u2019s and Yair Lapid\u2019s Together party to team up, Eisenkot suggested he didn\u2019t intend to form an alliance with any other factions that he wouldn\u2019t head.<\/p>\n Political outsider and security hawk, ex-IDF chief lost son and 2 nephews in war<\/p>\n The former general \u2014 who entered politics only four years ago, entered Netanyahu\u2019s war cabinet after October 7, but then quit in 2024, accusing him of lacking a strategy in Gaza \u2014 has emerged as the premier\u2019s most serious challenger in elections likely to be held on or a bit before October 27.<\/p>\n Like nearly all of the prime minister\u2019s rivals, Eisenkot has broadly supported Israeli military operations in places such as Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.<\/p>\n But he has also accused Netanyahu of strategic failure in the wake of the October 7 attack and said his vision of a more isolated Israel is a threat to the future of the state.<\/p>\n In recent days, Netanyahu, who leads the right-wing Likud party, has fired back, saying if he had listened to Eisenkot, who was opposed to certain operations in Gaza, then Hamas would still be in control of all the territory.<\/p>\n \t A 66-year-old son of Jewish Moroccan immigrants, Eisenkot stands in stark contrast to Netanyahu, a US-educated elite. He comes from a working-class family. His English is unpolished. He spent four decades in the IDF.<\/p>\n He has also never campaigned on having ties to US President Donald Trump. And his 25-year-old son, Gal Meir Eisenkot, was killed in combat<\/a> in Gaza, while Netanyahu\u2019s son Yair, a podcaster and a highly divisive figure, lived part-time in Florida.<\/p>\n Losing a son \u2014 as well as two nephews<\/a> \u2014 to the war has raised Eisenkot\u2019s profile among Israelis and given him credibility as someone who, having paid the ultimate price, won\u2019t needlessly sacrifice soldiers.<\/p>\n He has projected an image as a political outsider and security hawk whose humble background and family sacrifices stand in vivid contrast to Netanyahu\u2019s decades in high office and lingering corruption cases.<\/p>\n In Israel\u2019s fractured multi-party system, it would be difficult for any of the prime minister\u2019s challengers to form a coalition broad enough to unseat him.<\/p>\n If Eisenkot\u2019s party wins more seats than Netanyahu\u2019s \u2014 as a Times of Israel poll recently predicted<\/a> for the first time that it would \u2014 it will still need to form alliances with enough other parties to constitute a majority. Eisenkot has said he will not compromise on legislation mandating military service for the ultra-Orthodox, who also wield political power.<\/p>\n He will also need to decide whether to include Arab-led parties to get over the 61-seat threshold to form a majority coalition in the 120-member Knesset \u2014 something Netanyahu and his far-right allies have already used as an attack line.<\/p>\n While his new party is entering the election run-up with plenty of momentum after rising in the polls over recent weeks and months, Tamar Hermann, a political scientist and senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, says Netanyahu could still manage a comeback.<\/p>\n \u201cNetanyahu in a way is like a political Houdini; he manages in a way to get out of unfathomable corners,\u201d Hermann said.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident \u2013 ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded \u2013 I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.<\/p>\n There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.<\/p>\n As a Times of Israel reporter, I\u2019m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit\u2019s. But my colleagues and I can’t do this alone. If you value work like this, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.<\/p>\n \u2014 Stav Levaton, military reporter<\/p>\n \t\t\t
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\n\t\tL: Yashar party chair Gadi Eisenkot, on November 1, 2025. (Moshe Shai\/Flash90) R: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the Jewish News Syndicate conference in Jerusalem, on June 21, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg\/Flash90)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/F260630CG827-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tYashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot and party members at the launch of the party\u2019s election campaign in Hod Hasharon, June 30, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg\/Flash90)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/F260630CG806-e1782844349805-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tYashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot speaks at the launch of his party\u2019s election campaign in Hod Hasharon, June 30, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg\/Flash90)<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tWe can’t do this work alone.\t\t\t<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Untitled-design-4-200x200.jpg\" "\\"\\"\/")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tYes, I’ll join\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n