Who is Gadi Eisenkot, Netanyahu’s main challenger in Israel’s elections?
Gadi Eisenkot’s Rise Puts a Former Army Chief at the Center of Israel’s Election
Healfromzero.com – As Israel approaches its October 27 election, Gadi Eisenkot has become the leading opposition figure seeking to end Benjamin Netanyahu’s time in office. His appeal begins with a basic political distinction: he is not Netanyahu. In an election shaped by war, leadership questions and a fractured party system, that contrast may carry significant weight with voters.
Yet Eisenkot’s candidacy also represents something larger. At 66, the former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff is the son of Moroccan immigrants and could become Israel’s first Mizrahi prime minister. His background stands apart from Netanyahu’s upbringing in Jerusalem’s political elite, and it may broaden his reach among voters long associated with Netanyahu’s Likud party.
An ethnic controversy becomes a campaign issue
Eisenkot’s family history was thrust into public debate after Yinon Magal, a prominent television host widely seen as close to Netanyahu, made remarks about the opposition candidate’s identity. Magal described Eisenkot as a “monkey” of “a Mizrahi-Moroccan” background who was supposedly directed by “Ashkenazi elites.”
The comments touched a longstanding divide in Israeli society between Jews with European roots and Jews whose families came from the Middle East and North Africa. They triggered widespread political and media criticism. Magal later said he had not intended to ridicule Eisenkot’s origins, arguing that he had used an underworld expression for a figurehead controlled by others. Netanyahu also condemned the remarks.
Eisenkot generally does not foreground his ethnicity in public life. Still, his personal story has clear political resonance. Raised in Tiberias and Eilat, far from Israel’s traditional centers of influence, he is the second of nine children. His journey to the highest military office differs sharply from Netanyahu’s path through established circles of power.
For decades, many Mizrahi voters have been an important part of Likud’s base. Eisenkot’s emergence creates a rare test of whether a prominent Mizrahi candidate with a military record can alter that alignment. Israel has never had a Mizrahi prime minister.
A military career shaped by discipline and loss
Before entering electoral politics, Eisenkot spent roughly four decades in uniform. He joined the Golani Brigade in 1978 and eventually served as IDF chief of staff from 2015 through 2019, including during Netanyahu’s premiership.
One of the defining controversies of his tenure came in 2016, when Sgt. Elor Azaria shot and killed a wounded Palestinian attacker in Hebron. Right-wing political figures, including Netanyahu, pressed for a different response. Eisenkot instead supported the military investigation and the subsequent trial, maintaining that the armed forces’ discipline and ethical standards were at stake.
His move into politics came in 2022, when he joined forces with Benny Gantz, another former military chief. After the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023, Eisenkot and Gantz entered Netanyahu’s emergency war cabinet. They departed in June 2024, citing the lack of a defined strategy for the period after the war.
The Gaza conflict brought devastating losses to Eisenkot’s own family. His youngest son, Gal, was killed in Gaza in December 2023 at the age of 25, about two months after the war began. Two of Eisenkot’s nephews were also killed in combat.
In an April 2026 newspaper article, Eisenkot connected that loss directly to his purpose in politics.
“Over Gal’s grave, I swore that the price he paid, he and his friends, those he knew and those he didn’t, would not be in vain.”
He has described that commitment as central to his public mission, giving his campaign an intensely personal dimension as Israel debates the consequences of the war and the country’s future leadership.
Strong polling, difficult coalition math
Eisenkot entered the campaign’s final phase as the strongest candidate in the opposition. Recent polls have projected that his Yashar party could win between 20 and 23 of the Knesset’s 120 seats, putting it ahead of Likud. Surveys have also placed him in front of Netanyahu when voters are asked who is better suited to serve as prime minister.
Those numbers alone, however, cannot decide who governs. Israel’s parliamentary system depends on coalition-building, not simply on which party finishes first. After an election, the president gives the mandate to form a government to the lawmaker judged most likely to assemble a governing majority.
That requires 61 seats, and the current projections leave both major political camps short of that threshold. Netanyahu’s bloc includes far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties, while the anti-Netanyahu camp brings together parties with differing ideological priorities. The result could be another period of political stalemate.
Eisenkot’s route to power would require support from parties across the center, left and right. In some possible scenarios, Arab parties could be decisive. Netanyahu has spent years portraying cooperation with Arab parties as illegitimate, while several opposition leaders have already said they would not partner with them.
Eisenkot has indicated that he would attempt to form a government even without a 61-seat majority. That could mean a minority administration supported externally by Arab parties rather than a formal coalition agreement. Whether right-wing parties needed for such an arrangement would accept that model remains one of the election’s central unanswered questions.
The contest therefore presents Eisenkot with both an opportunity and a constraint. His military standing, personal history and distance from Netanyahu have made him a formidable challenger. But turning a polling lead into power will depend on negotiations after the ballots are counted—and on whether Israel’s divided political blocs can find enough common ground to form a government.
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