Gadi Eisenkot is not a man of loud words and long speeches. But his words to the relatives of Hamas victims from three years ago, who gathered in Kibbutz Reim to honor the memory of the dead, are sincere, and his pain is personal: in December 2023, the former Chief of the General Staff lost his 25-year-old son Gal during the fighting in the Gaza Strip, and a little later, two of his nephews also died. At that time, Eisenkot was an observer in the military cabinet, which he left shortly after.
Today, he has turned his personal tragedy into his political mission, writes the German public media ARD. His main campaign promise is: an impartial investigation into the unprecedented security failure of October 7 - through an independent state investigation commission.
"He has made a family tragedy his life's mission. And he gives us hope that we will open the next page for Israel," Liane Pollack-David, who is 25th on his list of candidates for the election, told ARD.
"A choice between unity and division"
On October 27, Israel will elect a new parliament (Knesset). Leading topics in the election campaign are foreign and security policy, responsibility for mistakes in repelling the Hamas terrorist attack, military service for ultra-Orthodox men and the high cost of living.
The main opponent of Netanyahu and his right-wing religious coalition led by the "Likud" party is considered to be the former Chief of the General Staff of Israel, Gadi Eisenkot. His centrist "Yashar" party declares itself in favor of strengthening the rule of law and a hard line on security issues, especially against Hamas, ARD points out.
Eisenkot's party attracts an unusually wide spectrum of voters: secular and religious, people from all corners of the country. Even disappointed voters from the traditional strongholds of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "Likud" party are changing camp. To foster cohesion and unity, the former general is calling for something that was previously unthinkable in Israel: universal military service, which would explicitly apply to both Arab Israelis and ultra-Orthodox religious school graduates.
Eizenkot himself sees the upcoming elections as a historic referendum: "We will choose between Zionism and the thirst for power, between unity and division, between national responsibility and negligence regarding security," ARD quoted him as saying.
Netanyahu's counterattack
Incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted with his usual firmness and relied entirely on polarization. In campaign videos created with artificial intelligence, his camp accused Eisenkot of being a weak leader - and of secretly planning the creation of a Palestinian state. Accusations that Eisenkot rejects as slander.
But anyone who considers Eisenkot weak because of his calm manner does not know the military past of this man, who served 41 years in the Israeli armed forces and rose to the rank of Chief of the General Staff. As head of the Northern Command, he formulated the Israeli military doctrine "Dahiya", which states that Israel responds to attacks from civilian areas with massive, asymmetric destruction. "He is a leader, but a quiet leader. "You don't have to shout to be a leader," says former Air Force Major General Gideon Schaefer, who has known Eisenkot for almost three decades.
"I see where Netanyahu has brought the state of Israel"
Eisenkot is gaining popularity in the polls and is running a tight race with Netanyahu, but if he wins the election he will face a serious challenge - he could only govern in a coalition that, on top of everything, will be very diverse and will reflect the deep differences in Israeli society.
It remains questionable whether this split will work. Eisenkot is pragmatically counting on the fact that after years of constant crisis, the Israeli population is tired of loud promises. When asked by the online portal YNET whether he lacks charisma compared to Netanyahu, Eisenkot replied with his usual restraint: "I don't know what charisma means. However, I see how far Netanyahu has brought the state of Israel. So: what is charisma?", ARD quotes him as saying.
Source: www.dw.com