Gadi Eisenkot challenges Netanyahu in Israel's October 27 election

Gadi Eisenkot, a 66-year-old retired Israeli general, is challenging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel's October 27 election. He is the opposition's leading candidate to unseat Netanyahu after polling in single digits a year ago.

Eisenkot spent most of his life in the Israel Defense Forces before entering politics relatively recently. He enlisted in the Golani Brigade in 1978 and served as chief of staff from 2015 to 2019 under Netanyahu. He became a Knesset member in 2022 with the National Unity party before leaving over ideological differences.

“He is not Benjamin Netanyahu.”

Last year Eisenkot formed his own centrist party, Yashar, meaning straight or upright. He has emerged as Netanyahu's main electoral rival amid corruption allegations against the prime minister and criticism of his handling of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks and judicial reform plan.

Eisenkot's decision to run was driven in part by personal tragedy. His youngest son, Gal, an army sergeant major, died in December 2023 during an explosion in northern Gaza while participating in a mission to recover the remains of two Israeli hostages captured on October 7.

Eisenkot says he has still not been able to look at his son's belongings, which were delivered to him in two boxes kept at his home in Herzliya. Israel has never had a Mizrahi prime minister, and Eisenkot, a son of Moroccan immigrants who grew up in Tiberias and Eilat, could be the first if he wins.

A political firestorm erupted after TV host Yinon Magal called Eisenkot a monkey of Mizrahi-Moroccan heritage managed by Ashkenazi elites. Magal later said he did not mean to mock Eisenkot's ethnic origins, and even Netanyahu condemned the remarks.

Many Mizrahi voters have traditionally supported Netanyahu's Likud party. Analysts believe Eisenkot's family history is part of his appeal, though polls indicate Netanyahu's coalition with the far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties may not reach a sufficient majority.