Israel Votes Tuesday in a Race Between Netanyahu and Former Army Chief Gadi Eisenkot, Whose New Party Holds a Narrow Poll Lead
Fox News profiles the retired general who left Netanyahu's war cabinet and lost his son to Hamas. Experts quoted call him honest and capable, but one says his support is mostly 'non-Bibi.'
Israel votes Tuesday, Oct. 27, and Fox News says the main challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is retired Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot.
The race. Fox says polls give Eisenkot's centrist Yashar party a narrow lead over Netanyahu's Likud. Either party will need a 61-seat coalition to form a government, so Fox says the winner is unlikely to be known for several days.
The man. Eisenkot was born in Tiberias to a Jewish-Moroccan family and grew up in Eilat. He served in the infantry and the Golani Brigade and was Israel's military chief of staff from 2015 to 2019. If he wins, Fox says, he would be the first prime minister of Moroccan origin. After the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack he joined Netanyahu's war cabinet as a minister without portfolio. He resigned after eight months, blaming the prime minister for lacking a comprehensive strategy. Hamas killed his son, Master Sgt. Gal Eisenkot, 25, in December 2023, along with two of his nephews. Fox says Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, said at the time they were devastated and called Eisenkot a "true hero."
What the experts say. Journalist Yossi Melman called him "100% a soldier," brave and humble, and said "he radiates honesty." Nadav Eyal of Yedioth Ahronoth said he is widely regarded as one of Israel's most successful chiefs of staff in 30 years and credited his planning against Hezbollah.
The doubts. Hebrew University historian Danny Orbach said Eisenkot shares responsibility for shaping the army that failed on Oct. 7, calling him "just as culpable as Netanyahu" on the "conceptzia" that Hamas could be placated with aid. Orbach said most of his support comes from being the default "non-Bibi" candidate, and doubted he would have stood up to the Biden administration. He added that an Eisenkot government could remove National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir from power and address West Bank extremist violence.
Note for readers: Fox says "a number of polls" show the lead and gives no figures. We did not see the polls, and Likud's response is not in the story.