![\"Reuters\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/215956.jpeg\")
Gadi Eisenkot launches an electioncampaign for Yashar, his new political party, at an event near Hod Hasharon, Israel, on 30 June 2026.<\/p>\nIsrael\u2019s political history is littered with the unaccomplished ambitions of former generals. In a country where the armed forces are held in the highest esteem, army chiefs commonly think their military gravitas will translate into political success. Yet out of Israel\u2019s 14 prime ministers, only three were generals. The last, Ariel Sharon, was elected more than 25 years ago.<\/p>\n
The latest to throw his beret in the ring is Gadi Eisenkot, who was Israel\u2019s chief-of-staff from 2015-19, and who later served as a minister after the 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel. He later left the government to set up his own party, called \u2018Yashar,\u2019 which is Hebrew for \u2018straight\u2019 or \u2018honest\u2019. Polls put him neck-and-neck with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Channel 12 as of 13 July 2026 put him at 43% with Netanyahu on 34%, while a Channel 13 poll gave Yashar 23 seats to Likud\u2019s 22.<\/p>\n
In many ways, Eisenkot has emerged as the \u201canti-Bibi\u201d (a reference to Netanyahu\u2019s nickname). His image is of stoic, almost pained authority whose sobriety offers a stark alternative to the theatrics of the current ruling coalition. Netanyahu is often criticised as a man who puts his own interests before the nation\u2019s, but Eisenkot\u2019s idea of public service rooted in military discipline and personal bereavement, having lost his son, Gal, to fighting in the Gaza Strip in 2023. He also lost two nephews in the same war.<\/p>\n
The Eisenkot brand<\/p>\n
The former army chief is known for his modest origins, a man who came from the periphery, served his country, and climbed the ranks, from footsoldier to top commander. The son of Moroccan immigrants, grew up in the small port city of Eilat, and served in the Golani Brigade (Netanyahu and another former prime minister, Ehud Barak, both served in the elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit).<\/p>\n
Gadi Eisenkot launches an electioncampaign for Yashar, his new political party, at an event near Hod Hasharon, Israel, on 30 June 2026.<\/p>\n
Outside Israel, Eisenkot\u2019s name is associated with the infamous \u2018Dahiyeh Doctrine,\u2019 named after the southern suburb of Beirut. This advocates the use of disproportionate force and the destruction of civilian infrastructure to create deterrence. As a result, Eisenkot is often branded as a hawk, an aggressive general who uses force to resolve problems. The reality is slightly more nuanced.<\/p>\n
Eisenkot\u2019s term as chief-of-staff was one of the quietest in the last two decades. His first action upon joining Netanyahu\u2019 \u2018war cabinet\u2019 in 2023 was to oppose a surprise attack against Hezbollah in Lebanon which would have expanded the war to the north, which is what Defense Minister Yoav Gallant wanted to do. In his choices, he showed pragmatism, but politically he remains relatively untested.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu has kept power for so long in part by positioning himself as the champion of the \u201cvoiceless Mizrahim\u201d (Jews from North Africa and the Arab world) against a perceived \u2018deep state\u2019 run by an Ashkenazi (Jews from Europe) elite. Yet Eisenkot was born in 1960 to a family of Moroccan origin, then raised as far from the corridors of power in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv as it is possible to get in Israel, so being both Mizrahi and an outsider has rather stolen Netanyahu\u2019s thunder.<\/p>\n
Four decades of war<\/p>\n
The young Eisenkot studied in the naval-and-mechanics track at a technical high school and enlisted in 1978 into the Golani Brigade’s 51st Battalion. \u201cEvery year I thought about quitting, but then I signed up for another year,\u201d he once told his local newspaper. \u201cIt turned into 33 years in uniform.\u201d The idea of a man of patient accumulation, rather than bold strokes, recurs throughout his career.<\/p>\n
![\"Reuters\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/215871.jpeg\")
Israeli politician and former military chief Gadi Eisenkot ahead of Israeli elections. He is currently doing well in the polls, but the election is still three months away.<\/p>\n
He fought in the 1982 Lebanon War as a company commander, present at the brutal fighting for Beirut\u2019s airport, where he lost close friends. He was wounded three times but none of the injuries were career-ending. He rose through Golani\u2019s chain of command, from reserve infantry brigades and the Efraim Regional Brigade. In 1999, he took on a high-visibility post: military secretary to Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, where he sat in on negotiations with Syria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s political history is littered with the unaccomplished ambitions of former generals. In a country where the armed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":572768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-572767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}