Netanyahu’s emerging challenger represents his polar opposite, and that may be his appeal

Former Israeli military chief Gadi Eisenkot, who is running for prime minister in the next Israeli election, is pictured in Tel Aviv, Israel, on June 24. (Nir Elias/Reuters via CNN Newsource)

TEL AVIV — On the evening of June 8, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party posted four words on its official X account.

“There is no Gadi without Tibi.”

Accompanying the short message was an AI-generated, 11-second clip showing two politicians – Gadi Eisenkot and Ahmad Tibi – standing together before a parliament covered in dark clouds.

“Eisenkot does not have a government without the Arabs,” the text at the end said, referencing Tibi, a prominent Arab lawmaker.

The post underscored two fundamental elements of the party’s campaign ahead of parliamentary elections slated for late October. First, that Netanyahu will once again rely on the anti-Arab rhetoric that his party has employed for years. And second, that Israel’s former military chief Eisenkot is now seen as the main political threat to the country’s longest-serving leader.

Eisenkot’s name may not yet resonate internationally, but in Israel, it has grown increasingly prominent, supplanting that of former prime minister Naftali Bennett as the main challenger to Netanyahu. An adviser to Netanyahu said they have 400 more videos about Eisenkot to release.

Eisenkot’s Yashar party, “straight” or “honest” in Hebrew and founded less than a year ago, had been languishing in the single digits in most polls until recently. Now, most surveys show it running close to Likud and ahead of the joint list formed by Bennett and another former prime minister, Yair Lapid.

The two had sought to fold Eisenkot into a unified anti-Netanyahu bloc. But he declined, opting to run independently instead, and has now surpassed them in multiple polls.

The latest Channel 12 poll projects that Eisenkot’s party would take 21 seats in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, just behind Likud’s 23 and ahead of Bennett-Lapid’s 18. Asked who was better suited to serve as prime minister, 38 per cent of respondents named Eisenkot; 36 per cent said Netanyahu. Other major pollsters show a similar trend.

The shift is reflected in Likud’s messaging, which has begun treating Eisenkot as Netanyahu’s primary rival after previously focusing on Bennett.

In recent weeks, campaign videos mocking Eisenkot’s heavily accented English started circulating, contrasting it with the polished international delivery of Netanyahu, who graduated from high school in Pennsylvania. “Gadi wouldn’t strike Iran,” was another emerging line of attack.

Yet that contrast may also be part of Eisenkot’s appeal, analysts say. In style and public persona, he is Netanyahu’s polar opposite, more than any rival in years.

Netanyahu, 76, has spent decades mastering political theater, sharp messaging and grand performances. Eisenkot is soft spoken, understated and undramatic – not the stuff of viral memes – a former military planner focused on process and strategy.

Their biographies reinforce the differences. Netanyahu, the son of a historian, grew up in Jerusalem’s elite circles and served in the military’s prestigious Sayeret Matkal commando unit. Eisenkot, 66, is the second of nine children born to Moroccan immigrants. He was raised in Tiberias and Eilat, outside Israel’s traditional centres of power and influence. As a soldier, he rose through the Golani Brigade to become the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) chief of staff from 2015 to 2019, picked by Netanyahu.

“Under your command, Gadi, the IDF carried out great work,” Netanyahu said in Eisenkot’s 2019 retiring ceremony. “We salute you, for your many merits as fighter and commander,” he said.

His tenure saw both political pressure and controversy. In 2016, Eisenkot presided over the prosecution of Elor Azaria, a combat medic convicted of killing a wounded Palestinian attacker in Hebron, a case that became a political flashpoint over military ethics and rules of engagement. He supported the military’s legal process despite significant right-wing pressure, including Netanyahu himself.

Eisenkot entered politics in 2022 under the leadership of another former military chief, Benny Gantz. Together, they joined Netanyahu’s emergency war cabinet after Oct. 7. Over time, Eisenkot grew increasingly critical of the government’s conduct during the war and the absence of a clear strategy, particularly regarding the hostages held in Gaza.

“The war is being conducted through tactical gains, without significant moves to achieve strategic objectives,” he wrote in a February 2024 letter to Netanyahu and the war cabinet.

The war also reshaped his personal story. Two months into the fighting, his youngest son, Gal, was killed in Gaza. Two of his nephews were later killed in combat. All while Netanyahu’s own son, Yair, spent a significant portion of the war in Miami, and did not serve in reserve duty.

“We will continue to be a united and happy family so that your sacrifice will not be in vain,” Eisenkot said at the funeral of his son. “We will do everything to be worthy – and make the right decisions for those who sacrificed, your brothers in arms, and for the entire Israeli people.”

By June 2024, Eisenkot and Gantz withdrew from the emergency war cabinet, citing the absence of an endgame. A year later, Eisenkot split from Gantz to form his own party, which has steadily gained momentum.

“He comes across to people as someone they want to hug,” columnist Nachum Barnea wrote in Yedioth Aharonot this week, describing Eisenkot’s appeal as “emotional,” and tracing it to the combination of him being a former chief of staff, a bereaved father, and a Moroccan son from the periphery.

His background may carry political significance. Mizrahi voters – Jews of Middle Eastern and North African descent – are traditionally a core Likud constituency, but Israel has never had a Mizrahi prime minister. Even Likud lawmaker David Bitan recently acknowledged in an interview that Eisenkot’s background and personal story “give him a very interesting advantage.” Yigal Guetta, a former lawmaker from the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, said it bluntly on Israel’s Channel 12 News. “Yes, a Moroccan prime minister!”

Still, with some four months until the election, polling shows Eisenkot is far from securing a decisive victory or having an easy path to a governing coalition. Netanyahu is a seasoned and skillful campaigner with a well-established political apparatus. Eisenkot has never run a national race on his own.

Netanyahu’s allies have already escalated their attacks. On pro-Netanyahu Channel 14, panelists have accused Eisenkot of past leniency toward Hezbollah figures – claims he rejects and over which he has said he is weighing legal action.

Likud messaging has also returned to a familiar argument aimed at right-leaning voters: that any anti-Netanyahu coalition would depend on the support of Arab parties. Instead of directing that attack at Bennett or Lapid, it’s now aimed at Eisenkot.

Coalition arithmetic remains the central challenge, not just for Eisenkot but for the entire anti-Netanyahu bloc. Even if polls point to a majority, a potential coalition spanning left, right, centre and Arab parties would face real difficulty forming a government – and keeping it together.

Nonetheless, Anshel Pfeffer, Israel correspondent for The Economist and the author of one of Netanyahu’s biographies, says that Eisenkot stands out from previous challengers.

“There is an ongoing Israeli audition since 1996 seeking for the person who will bring down Netanyahu,” he said. “Those who succeeded, like Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon, did so by being fundamentally different. Those who failed often tried to imitate him.” It’s a pattern Pfeffer characterized as “WannaBibis.”

Eisenkot, in his view, is not following that script. “There is only one Netanyahu. Eisenkot is the first in years who is trying to beat Netanyahu by being his opposite,” he said.

Pfeffer questions how far that difference extends, noting that Eisenkot was a central figure in shaping Israel’s military strategy, including the “Dahiyeh doctrine” of using overwhelming force against civilian infrastructure to deter future militant attacks, developed after the 2006 Lebanon war, and the strategic planning at the outset of the Gaza war. “Personality-wise, he is different,” Pfeffer said, “but in terms of policy, it’s less clear.”

Netanyahu has seen multiple challengers rise on waves of public hope and support, only to fall short against his political skills. For now, the contrast with Netanyahu appears to be driving Eisenkot’s momentum.

“Eisenkot is not Netanyahu and can never be. But that may be precisely what many Israelis are looking for: a fundamentally different style of leadership,” Pfeffer said.

By Tal Shalev, CNN