Gadi Eisenkot Challenges Netanyahu in Tight Israeli Knesset Race

Benjamin Netanyahu has held the office of prime minister for 19 of the past 30 years, and Israeli voters are set to decide on Tuesday whether that streak continues.

The election is defined less by a traditional left-right divide than by a direct referendum on the incumbent's leadership. Polls indicate the pro-Netanyahu and anti-Netanyahu camps are running close, with the outcome potentially hinging on a single seat in the 120-member Knesset.

Gadi Eisenkot, the leading opposition challenger, is campaigning on a platform of directness and structural reform. A former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff and the son of working-class Moroccan Jews, Eisenkot entered politics only four years ago. His party, Yashar, translates to straight or direct, and he proposes US-style term limits for prime ministers, arguing that power corrupts.

At a recent rally in Modi'in, a city between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, supporters praised Eisenkot for his plain style. Noa Sadeh, a 56-year-old attendee, said she is tired of politicians who know how to talk and wants someone who will do the doing part.

The opposition bloc is diverse, including former prime minister Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Lieberman. Both men are figures of the nationalist right who previously worked closely with Netanyahu before falling out with him. On the far right, Itamar Ben-Gvir's Otzma Yehudit party is also framing its campaign around the prime minister. Yishai Fleisher, a party representative, argued in Bet Shemesh that Netanyahu drifts left and must be pulled to the right, citing demands for more settlements and a ministry to encourage the voluntary departure of Palestinians.

Netanyahu has actively shaped the narrative of the election. His campaign posters offer a rhyming choice between Yamin, or the right, and Falastin, or Palestine, placing opposition leaders alongside the heads of two parties representing Palestinian citizens of Israel. These citizens make up about a fifth of the population. The final weeks of the campaign have focused on whether the anti-Netanyahu Jewish parties, which are forecast to outpoll the prime minister's bloc but fall short of a majority, will rely on mainly Arab parties to form a government.

Pro-Netanyahu media, including Channel 14, have kept his opponents on the defensive. This week, Channel 14 host Yinon Magal called Eisenkot a Moroccan monkey. While speakers at the Modi'in rally raised the slur, Eisenkot did not. Admirers viewed his silence as restraint, while critics questioned whether he understood the nature of his opponents.

The close polling presents a puzzle for observers given the events of the past three years. The deadliest attack in Israel's history occurred on October 7, 2023, while Netanyahu was in office. His subsequent war in Gaza killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, of whom Israel says a third were Hamas combatants, yet Hamas was not eradicated. Iran's nuclear threat was not destroyed as promised, and Netanyahu faces an ongoing corruption trial and the fallout from his attempt to curb the supreme court.

Oded Levi, who voted for Netanyahu in 2022 but attended the Eisenkot rally, stated that whoever was prime minister then is responsible. Netanyahu's durability rests on a loyal base built over three decades. His allies promote an account that army and intelligence chiefs kept him in the dark regarding the October 7 attack, a claim that is unfounded. He is also viewed as a gifted coalition builder who may outmaneuver rivals in post-vote negotiations.

Opposition hopes rest partly on energy abroad, with many liberal, secular expatriate Israelis flying home to vote. This group is not captured by standard pollsters but could be decisive if the result turns on a single seat. On Thursday, a state ceremony marked the 1995 assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. Netanyahu stayed away and sent a low-ranking minister. Yair Golan, leader of the Democrats and a former general, expressed optimism that opposition leaders can agree on a regional strategic process for long-term security.

The word peace has been tainted for many Israelis, but it has not vanished. A video shared widely this week showed scores of young Israelis at a Negev music festival singing Shir LaShalom, the song Rabin sang before he was shot 31 years ago.