A succession of contenders has tried to depose Benjamin Netanyahu, who has led Israel almost uninterrupted since 2009. But now a man who “lost his son in Gaza” is “coming for” the veteran prime minister, said The Telegraph.
Gadi Eisenkot (pictured above) has been described as a “stocky newcomer“ and a “teddy bear with a steel spine”. Israeli politics is a complex web, but if the pundits and polls are correct, he could also be described as “prime minister” by the end of October.
Eisenkot was “born into the Israeli working class” from which the right-wing Likud party has “traditionally garnered so much support”, added The Telegraph. He joined the military as a private soldier in the Golani infantry brigade and became its most senior officer as chief of the general staff. After retiring from the military, Eisenkot entered politics in 2022, and briefly held a role in Netanyahu’s coalition before forming his own party, Yashar, which means “honest” in Hebrew.
His youngest son, Gal, 25, was killed in Gaza in 2023. He also lost two nephews during the invasion that followed the 7 October attacks.
Eisenkot has “emerged as the most dangerous challenger” to the prime minister after his party became the largest in the opposition bloc hoping to replace Netanyahu in the elections that will take place by 27 October. He holds only a razor-thin lead in the polls, but commentators “increasingly believe” that Eisenkot “could be the one” to break Netanyahu’s “voodoo-like grip” on the premiership.
Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party and an influential figure in Israeli politics, has suggested that Shas could “be open” to joining a government led by Eisenkot, said The Jerusalem Post. “We are in a secular country ... there are those whom I don’t believe will repent,” said Yosef in a filmed speech. “There’s no chance (Netanyahu) will repent. Eisenkot might repent.” |
